Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
by Geektaire
Summary: After being threatened at Hoag's Penitentiary, the MacManus brothers are transported to a prison in Georgia for their safety. No one could have known the turn their lives would take when a crazy group of people threw open the doors of the smelly cafeteria they had spent the last ten months stuck in. Set in TWD universe. BDS/TWD
1. Seeds

Chapter I - Seeds

They hadn't been surprised when they'd been moved. The truth was, the brothers knew it had been just matter of time before their people on the outside did something about their current situation, and the first step had been to get them out of the Massachusetts area.

They had been sad to be separated from Romeo. The Mexican would never take Rocco's place, but they had gotten to know and care about him. He was better off without them, if not at least a lot safer. The first week they were in Hoag they had gotten into three fights, none of them truly started by them, or technically at least. They had been thrown into isolation, much to their chagrin. Murphy had been the one to take it harder than Connor, after practically having spent all of their lives next to each other, not being able to touch his twin every day had been hard.

When the order to transfer them came in, they couldn't have been happier. Away from Boston and a step closer to freedom, if they knew their companions. Georgia had never been a place they'd ever thought of visiting, too humid and sunny for the two Irishmen. But in Georgia they were, and in Georgia they would stay for a long time.

They had been there for less than three months when the world went to hell. Since almost no one knew them there, they had been able to keep to themselves and stay somewhat together. They were not in the same cell, but at least the two of them could spend most of their time together during the day.

When Connor came into cell block A, banging on the bars to wake his brother up, he was seriously freaking out. And that, in itself, had seriously started freaking out a recently awoken Murphy. When Killian, the guard they had somehow befriended over shared stories of their motherland, had rushed them to the cafeteria, together with some dumbass inmates, and told them to wait for him to come back, shit had gotten real.

That had been almost a year ago. A year of surviving in that small enclosed space, of making plans and trying not to murder the bastards they were confined with. They knew Tomas and Andrew would have been victims of the 'saints' in another time, but after the shit Connor had seen, and the reaction those outside had whenever they even thought of getting out of there, they had decided to let them live.

They kept to themselves mostly, Connor trying to calm Murphy half of the time, the younger twin's anxiety getting the better of him sometimes. They prayed, they talked with each other, they waited. They knew something was coming, could feel it in their bones. Axel, Oscar and Big Tiny they tolerated, but more than once they had ended up needing to let off steam, and by letting off steam, they meant beating Tomas and Andrew to a pulp.

"It's your fault," Murphy muttered angrily as he dropped himself into the corner, sneering at the Mexican man as he tucked the only gun the seven of them had in the back of his jumpsuit.

"My fault?" Connor answered, pushing Murphy away as he sat beside him. "It wasn't me who thought it would be a good idea to start yet another fight." He looked sideways as Murphy started biting his thumb. "Stop that," he snapped, slapping his brother's hand away from his mouth.

"Fuck you," Murphy muttered as he slapped his brother back, starting yet another scuffle between them. Connor would give him that. If it meant his brother would feel better, he would get into as many fights as needed.

A few minutes of them rolling on the ground like when they were kids, hitting wherever they were able to reach, passed before they both sat, backs against the wall, shoulder to shoulder again. "Something is going to happen," Murphy muttered, looking at the rest of the inmates warily.

"Feel it too," Connor muttered, trying to make sense of the feeling in the middle of his chest. Something big was coming, soon, and all he could pray for was that his brother would remain safe.

That night, huddled together in their corner, away from everyone else, something woke them up. It hadn't been as strong as it had been back in that cell in Boston, but inside they knew it was going to be just as life changing. Shit was going to happen, and soon.

They woke up the next day on their toes, with some kind of unspent nervous energy beating within them. Connor, as usual, was able to keep it more contained than Murphy, his brother walking around the cafeteria without being able to sit still for more than a minute at a time.

When the doors banged open, it was as though they had been put there for that reason only. While the rest of the inmates ran to hide in the pantry, the brothers immediately went to help the new arrivals secure the doors. They weren't even sure the people had even noticed them, a black man trying to keep the doors closed with them, while the rest of them laid someone on the ground.

"Hold him down! Alright. Only one way to keep him alive!" Connor turned to look over his shoulder as he heard one of them yell. He could see how the old man's leg was bleeding profusely, and how one of them, a dark curly haired man, started to chop his leg off.

"Fuck," he muttered, catching Murphy's eyes as they continued to keep the door closed against whatever the hell was out there.

"Oh, he's bleeding out." Their attention was on the doors, as they continued to listen to the struggle from the people behind them as they tried to save the older man's life.

"Duck!" Their immediate reaction was to lower their heads, both of them, without even knowing who was talking to whom.

"Holy shit."


	2. Sick

**Author's note:** Heads up people. This is a crossover story BDS/TWD that takes place in the TWD universe. Also, the pairing in this is actually Daryl/Carol/Connor/Murphy. It's a polyamory story. Just wanted to make that absolutely clear heading in (in case people don't want to read that) another thing that I want to make clear across this early on is that there won't be a romantic/sexual relationship between the boys, it's them and Carol (Carol/Murphy, Carol/Daryl, Carol/Connor), nothing other than that between them.

 **Chapter II - Sick**

Murphy groaned and slammed his head against the door he was helping the unknown black man and his brother keep closed.

"Who the hell are you?!" A scruffy looking guy with a gruff voice demanded as he pointed his loaded crossbow at the bigger group, not noticing the two inmates at their back.

"Who the hell are _you_?!" one of their fellow convicts answered back. Connor huffed as he kept on pushing against the door while those things tried to enter once again.

"Who the fuck cares!" Murphy barked as he had to throw his weight against the door. The man with the crossbow tried to pretend he hadn't been caught unguarded by the voice coming from behind him, but he was clearly on edge trying to keep all of them within his sights at all times.

"He's bleeding out; we gotta go back!" the man who had chopped the apparently bitten leg off yelled, starting to prepare to try and mobilize the older man. "Come around here! Put pressure on the knee! Hard! Hard!" The only woman among the group followed his orders immediately, her hands shaking as she tried to keep it together for the older man. Connor and Murphy shared a look, following the lead of the man they were standing guard with, as he slowly moved away from the now closed doors.

"He got bit." Connor could see his brother pale slightly at the archer's confession, turning to look at the now dismembered leg on the concrete floor.

"Bit?" Both brother's watched as Tomas brought out their gun, pointing it at the old man. Immediately, the apparently peaceful black man they were standing next to cocked his and pointed at the inmate.

"What the fucking fuck, _pendejo_?" Murphy yelled at Tomas, moving towards him to try and get the gun back.

"Back off!" the archer yelled at him without moving his crossbow from where it was pointed at the Mexican. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now. Nobody needs to get hurt."

Connor meanwhile had his eyes on the people trying to keep the old man alive. The man with the dark curls barked orders at the girl who was clearly trying to follow as much as she could. He watched silently as the Asian man moved to the room where the rest of the group had been hiding. "Do you have medical supplies?"

"Not here," Connor said, moving slightly towards him, moving his hands up as he kept a wary eye on the apparent leader who looked jumpy. "But the infirmary is close, I can show you where."

The curly haired man moved to try and carry the pale looking old man. Both Connor and Murphy moved to help only to stop when the archer moved his crossbow to them. "Just trying to help, lad, that's all."

"Don't look like no rescue team," Axel said, and Connor really felt like shooting him at that moment.

"If a rescue team's what you're waiting for, don't!" The apparent leader was clearly getting exasperated by the situation. "Come on, we gotta go! Now! Come on, I need a hand here! One, two, three, go!" Between all of them, they put the injured man onto the improvised gurney.

Connor caught the archer's attention as he was still pointing at the inmates. "Where are you? We'll go get medical supplies and meet you there." The man gave him a side-eyed look before nodding slightly. As they started to open the door, they could hear the curly haired man yelling for the black man, apparently called T, to open the doors.

"Cell block C. You got a weapon?" At their negative, the scruffy-looking man took a knife from his belt, pushing it at them before running to catch up with his friends.

"Let's go," Murphy said as he knelt to pick up a piece of some kind of metal pole. Connor gave their companions over the last ten months a last look before he turned and followed his brother in the direction the strangers had gone off.

"The infirmary is on the left at the next intersection," Connor hurried to add as they caught up quickly to the group, raising his hands as the archer jumped and turned to point at them. "You go right and we go left, meet you there as soon as possible."

"The brain ... you need to hit them in the brain to stop them," was the quiet advice he gave them before they separated.

"What the fuck fucking fuck is going on here?" Murphy muttered at him as they moved quickly but surely towards the infirmary, keeping their backs to each other.

"I have no fucking idea, brother," Connor grimaced as he slammed the knife into one of those disgusting things as it appeared in front of him. "But that man needs help, and we're going to help him."

Murphy gagged as a corpse tried to take a bite out of him. "This is fucking rotten." They continued to make their way towards the infirmary, letting out a sigh of relief as they saw the closed door getting closer and closer. "Be careful," Murphy said softly as he felt Connor start to try and open the door.

"It's fucking locked, who the fuck locks this fucking thing in the middle of the fucking apocalypse." Connor ranted madly as he pushed Murphy back so he was able to kick the door open. "Oh shite," he yelled at a slightly higher pitch when one lonely walker suddenly threw itself at him.

"What the fuck?" Murphy said looking over his shoulder to see his brother dropping the dead body, "Scarlet for ya, brother."

"Shut up, ya windy fuck," Connor muttered as they made it inside, closing the door behind them. They both started to look around for something to carry the supplies in, nothing obvious at first glance. "Use thisl" The pillowcase hit Murphy in the back of the head, the younger twin throwing his brother a look before opening it and starting to search through the medicine cabinets. "Alcohol, bandages, medical tape, syringes ... " he muttered as he threw everything he could find inside the case. "How you doing Murph?"

"Can't find antibiotics," his brother's voice was slightly panicky, and Connor, having finished his own search, moved to him.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Murphy glared at his brother when he knocked him in the side of the head. "Just throw the whole fucking lot in there, no time to window shop." Between the two of them, they were able to almost empty the cabinets; the pillowcases were rather heavy and they just hoped they wouldn't meet a lot of walkers on their way back.

.-..-.

"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone relax, there's no need for this." The curly haired man, Rick as he had introduced himself to the inmates, said as he stood in the middle of the two groups. On one side, closer to the door they had just come in from, were the inmates; on the other, the archer, Daryl, and the black man, T-Dog.

Tomas moved to try and get a look into the cell block, not lowering his gun. "How many of you in there?"

Daryl snarled at the man, taking a small step forward, threateningly.

"Too many for you to handle." Rick frowned when he only saw four guys behind Tomas. "Where are the other two?" Axel turned to look behind him, as if the Irishmen would suddenly appear out of thin air.

"They went to the infirmary," Daryl answered instead, making eye contact with Rick before turning to look at the other men, not saying anything else. The tension was thick, and no one really trusted anyone else. They were making their way into the cellblock when they heard noises from the other end of it.

"Bowman!" Connor's voice rang out as they looked into the block from behind the closed door. A young boy in a sheriff's hat looked at the two men warily from afar, his pistol trained on them. "Whoa there," They both raised their arms up, showing they were unarmed. "No need for that."

"Carl," Rick's voice made the boy roll his eyes before turning and moving to unlock the doorway leading to his father and the rest of the group.

"Who are they?" the curious boy asked as he did so.

"More inmates," his father replied gruffly, striding across the cell block, knowing Daryl would remain at his back. The door was closed behind the three of them, effectively cutting off the rest of their unwanted guests from entering.

"Would you mind not arsing around?," Murphy barked as he looked warily behind them, "there's some nasty things in here." Rick reached them and begrudgingly opened the door for them, closing it right behind them to prevent a couple of walkers from getting in. "That was fucking close."

Murphy looked back from the door only to have Daryl's crossbow shoved to his face. "What the fuck?" T-Dog reached them, taking the pillowcases from them. "Is this the thanks we get?"

"A wee lad pointing his gun at us?" Connor added while looking warily at an armed Carl.

"We have an arrangement with your people," Daryl raised an eyebrow slightly when he heard Murphy mutter 'not our people'. "We will help you clear another cellblock, and you will be allowed to stay here, while also giving us half of your food."

Tomas had apparently made a deal with the new people while they were away. Connor looked at his brother, nodded and shrugged, "That's fair."

Rick looked slightly put out over the lack of a fight from them. He instead turned and started leading them out of the cellblock. "Don't even look at them," he muttered fiercely to the brothers as they made their way across the occupied cells. Of course neither of them actually listened, looking as a heavily pregnant lady and a gray haired woman with blood all over their hands as they did everything they could to try and save the amputated man.

"I hope it helps him," Murphy said softly as they waited behind Rick for the door to be opened. The leader tried not to react to the soft words spoken by the tattooed man.

.-.-.

They joined the rest of the group, and together with the other men made their way back to the cafeteria. Connor couldn't help but try and sneak glances at the man with the crossbow, the man with the face of his brother. He was sure Murphy had no idea of what was going on. They had never been overly vain to have spent a lot of time in front of the mirror, but if there was one face on this earth he knew better than his own, it was his brother's … and that man, he was identical up to the placement of the birthmark Murphy had beside his mouth.

Before they entered the cafeteria, and as Daryl made space for them to pass, Connor leaned towards him and whispered, "Beware of Tomas, he's unhinged." He saw how the other man flinched as he got too close, filing away the information for later use as well as the slight nod Daryl gave him in return.

The brothers kept quiet as both groups bartered over the exact amount of food they'd be splitting, always staying within the eyesight of Daryl or T-Dog as they watched everything unfold. At the first sight of the group starting to split the food, they moved forward and offered to help.

T-Dog smiled at them, passing them some of the sacks they would be taking back to their cellblock. Daryl scoffed at the black man, shaking his head as he followed them on point.

.-.-.-

Rick looked at the brothers warily as they helped his people carry the food they were getting out of the deal. There was something familiar about them, but at the same time, not familiar at all. He sighed as he made his way into cellblock C to get an update on Hershel's situation.

He approached his wife at the opening of the cell, looking at the man lying pale and listless upon the bunk. "Any change?"

His wife looked up at him with so much pain in her eyes, pain he was in part a cause of which made him break eye contact with her immediately. "Bleeding is under control and no fever, but his breath is labored, his pulse is down and he hasn't opened his eyes yet." She gave him a sad smile which didn't reach her eyes. "But there were special bandages which helped control the bleeding a lot better than we had been able to do, and we gave him antibiotics, so now we just have to wait."

The sheriff sighed, looking around the small cell which had all kinds of medical supplies scattered around. "Take my cuffs, put them on him. I'm not taking any chances." He gave them to Glenn, who reluctantly did as he was told.

Lori looked on as she saw her husband rub his temples wearily, trying to make sense of what was going on. "So what about the prisoners?" Any topic was up for grabs, anything but their own relationship. She missed her husband with all of her heart.

A headache was definitely on its way as he tried to work the problem over. "We're gonna help them clear out their own cell block, and then they'll be there, and we'll be here."

"Living beside each other."

"I'm not giving up this prison." Rick tried not to cringe at how those words came out.

"Do they have guns?"

"Only saw one. I don't know if it's gonna work …" He had to keep himself from trying to find some kind of solace in her arms. They were too far from there now.

"Well, what are your options?"

"Kill 'em." The Irishmen came to his mind. They didn't seem anything other than willing to help, but who knew why those two had been imprisoned. The risk was too great.

"If that's what you think is best." At her words he felt like yelling, she had never had problems before telling him what she really thought, and now she was being slightly condescending and it was driving him mad.

He chuckled nervously "I don't know. The Irishmen have been helpful, they were the ones who got Hershel what he needed."

"Look, I know I'm a shitty wife, and I'm not winning any 'mother of the year' awards, but I need you to know not for one second do I think there's malice in your heart. You're not a killer, and I know that. I know that so… so do whatever you have to do to keep this group safe, and do it with a clear conscience." He couldn't do anything else but nod at her words; resentment was in his heart, but she knew him better than anyone else, and in the end, she was right.

It wasn't until their half of the food was well in place inside their block that they started preparing to take back another of the cellblocks. The group in front of them was more than eclectic: two pasty white Irishmen, three black men going from huge as a brick house to even tinier than Carol, a white guy with a mustache probably older than Glenn and a Mexican who looked like he would murder them all the first chance he had.

"Here." Daryl jumped, startled as Connor moved beside him, the knife he had loaned him in his hand. He looked at the knife, before eyeing the man holding it.

"Keep it," Connor nodded, moving to stand between the archer and his brother as the rest of the inmates moved to pick up different types of weapons to use from the table in front of them. Murphy raised his bloodied pipe to show as T-Dog looked at him, shrugging as if to say he was good with it.

"Why do I need this, when I've got this?" Tomas said, pulling out his gun and brandishing it around as if it was a toy.

"That's a five-shooter, you stupid motherfucker," Murphy snarled, rolling his eyes at Tomas. "This isn't a fuckin movie where your fucking bullets never run out." Connor laughed from besides his brother, raising an eyebrow as Tomas glared at them.

"You don't fire guns. Not unless your back's up against the wall. Noise attracts them, really riles them up," Daryl's calm raspy voice added, looking around the circle, measuring each of the men in front of him. His eyes lingered on Tomas a tad longer, keeping Connor's words at the forefront of his mind.

"We'll go in two by two. Daryl will run point with T, I'll bring up the rear with you," Rick started explaining, pointing at Andrew since he was apparently the weakest link. "Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down; anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker, end up with an axe to the head."

"And that's where you aim. These things only go down with a headshot." The brothers moved to stand closer to each other, the feeling of the other bringing them calm as Daryl finished the explanation.

"Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man." Murphy snickered at the Tomas' sneering tone, giving the man a big smile when he glared at him.

"They ain't men. They're something else." The room seemed to have dropped in temperature as Daryl said those words. They were a long way from what was normal now.

The twins regarded the rest of their companions as they all paled slightly. Something was going to happen, and soon. "Just remember ... go for the brain." With those words Rick motioned for Daryl and T-Dog to start their advance, and two by two everyone else followed behind.

The first few corridors were empty of moving walkers, all those in there already down by their hand when they'd moved back and forth from the cafeteria. Both Murphy and Connor waited to let Tomas pass in front of them, being the last couple before Rick and Andrew. It wasn't until later, at Daryl's signal, they started to slow down as they approached one of the uncharted corridors, silently waiting to see what they would find ahead.

"Man, it's too damn dark in here!" Big Tiny complained as they tried to look ahead, the meager illumination their flashlights gave in the darkness of the prison not being enough.

"Gotta hold it up high out in front of you." Daryl demonstrated as he kept his crossbow pointed ahead at all times. "You're gonna hear 'em before you see 'em." As he said that, a shuffling sound could be heard coming from up ahead, behind the open doors in front of them. Murphy and Connor could feel as the group started to fidget around them, nervous tension palpable in the musty air.

"It's coming!" Axel practically yelled as the sound came closer, the older man clearly shaking. He was shushed immediately by Daryl, and Connor was impressed by how the man looked and sounded like his twin at that exact moment.

A few walkers moved into their vision, and before anyone said anything and disregarding the words from Rick and Daryl, the prisoners charged recklessly into the middle of the fray. The Irishmen stood behind, together with the rest of the group, looking astonished as the men hit and slammed the walkers everywhere except where they had been advised to. "Fucking tools," Connor muttered to his brother, elbowing him as they watched the scene in front of them.

They heard as Daryl let an annoyed sigh before opening his mouth to yell at the mess before him. "It's gotta be the brain!" He released an arrow straight into a walker's head, "Not the stomach, not the heart, the brain!"

More walkers arrived, making everyone finally jump in and help. T-Dog rapidly found that he had his back covered by the Irishmen, working alongside them as Rick and Daryl continued to try and make the prisoners kill the walkers.

At Rick's yell to go back to formation, the brothers and T-Dog followed through, taking down walkers left and right, not noticing how Big Tiny seemed to back himself into a corner. It wasn't until the first shot rang out, as the walkers were finally thinning out that they realized what had happened.

"I'm telling you! I don't feel anything, it's just a scratch!" Big Tiny wailed as everyone turned to look at him, the pity in Rick's face obvious.

"I'm sorry man …"

"I can keep fighting!" Daryl moved slightly forward, almost knocking elbows with the twins as he saw the inmate take a step closer to their leader, pleading for his life. As if they had the power to undo whatever fate was to befall him.

Andrew jumped right in, the small man talking a mile a minute. "You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life!"

The look on Rick's face didn't change, it might have even turned more pitiful. "Look at where the bite is!" His voice said it all. It was done.

"Guys, I'm fine! Just … I'm fine. Look, look at me, I'm not changing into one of those things." They could hear the panic in Big Tiny's voice, and it hurt. They might not have been best friends with those guys, but they had been together for over ten months.

Oscar, always the logical one, who tried more than once to keep the peace between the brothers and Tomas, came to Big Tiny's defense. "Look, man, there's gotta be something we can do. We could just lock him up!"

"Quarantine him!" Daryl groaned silently as Axel yet again raised his voice, turning to look at the door the walkers had just came from, remaining prepared for anything.

"We gotta do something! Why are you just standing there, we gotta save him!"

Connor shook his head as he saw Murphy open his mouth to say something. There was no point in doing so. If those men said there was nothing else to do, he believed them. He motioned with his head towards Daryl, following him towards where he was standing guard.

They stood silently next to the archer, bodies tense as the argument continued at their backs. "Can't let your guard down," Daryl whispered to them. "That's how mistakes happen, and you make a mistake, you die." He hadn't finished talking when the sound of a disgusting crunch, together with T-Dog's sharp intake of breath made them turn around quickly; only to see the dark haired man smashing his friend's skull with a hammer.

"Unhinged," Murphy muttered , raising his eyebrows at Daryl as they turned to continue. That man was trouble, and they really didn't want him to cost them their lives. They moved ahead, the mood clearly a lot different after the incident. Daryl gave a nod to T-Dog as he pulled back to wait for Rick to catch up.

"You see the look on his face?" He made a small motion towards Tomas, not allowing him out of his sight. "The leprechauns think he lost it"

"He makes one move …" was the muttered words of Rick as they continued on their way.

"Just give me a signal."

Walkers were put down as they continued further into the prison, closer to the wing where the other cell block was situated. Soon, they arrived at a room with double doors, which they knew meant the cell block was just behind it. Daryl motioned towards the doors to Tomas, throwing him the keys in his hands.

"I ain't opening that," the man sneered at them.

Rick shared a look with Daryl, before looking at him again. "Yes, you are. If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. We need to control this." Walkers could be heard behind the doors; they had obviously heard them by then. The scraping of their hands on the metal making the hairs on their arms stand.

"You bitches ready?" Tomas sneered at them as he put the key in and tried to open it, grunting when it wouldn't bulge. "I got this." He muttered as he planted himself and pulled harder, opening both of the doors at the same time, and letting all of them in at once.

"He said one door, fuckwit!" Murphy yelled as he speared the walker closest to him in the eye with his pipe.

"Shit happens!" Tomas yelled back as they continued to stab the walkers. Connor and Murphy kept side by side, tag teaming the walkers as they came at them. From the side of his eye, Connor saw Tomas taking a swing at Rick, just before pushing the next walker right on him.

Connor moved quickly, stabbing the walker that had the policeman on the floor in the back of the head before turning and going back to help his brother. The walkers began to clear. Once they were all dead, they finally turned to look at Rick who was sitting on the floor, the front of his shirt soaked in thick dark blood.

"He was coming at me, bro!" Tomas said, a mocking smile on his face as he watched the man start to stand up. He turned, smiling at the twins who just glared at him.

"Yeah … Yeah, I get it. I get it. Shit happens." Rick muttered, looking at his left, just before slamming his machete over Tomas' head.

"No!" Andrew yelled as he came at Rick with his bat, getting a kick in the stomach for his trouble. Daryl immediately pointed his crossbow at him.

"Easy now." Daryl said to him, following him with his eyes as the man took off down a corridor with Rick at his heels.

"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened!" Axel said, his arms up. He watched as Daryl moved to point his crossbow at him and Oscar.

"Shut the fuck up, Axel," Connor said as they stood in front of the two men. Daryl nodded at him as he continued to keep them at gunpoint. It wasn't long before Rick returned, panting slightly, but without the smaller black man.

"We didn't have nothing to do with that," Oscar said as soon as the man entered the room.

"You didn't know? You knew! Daryl, let's end this now!" Rick motioned to Daryl to come forward, Axel and Oscar moving back, their hands up.

"We told you he was unhinged," Murphy said, trying to move closer to the other two inmates, slowly making his way into Rick's eyesight. He pulled his hands up as the man moved his gun to his face.

"Sir, please, please listen to me! It was them that was bad! It wasn't us!" Connor rolled his eyes as Axel pleaded to them. "You saw what he did to Tiny! He was my friend! Please! We ain't like that! I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer! Oscar here, he's a B and E and he ain't very good at it neither! We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please! Please, I swear to god! I wanna live!" He was almost pissing himself as he pleaded to Rick, who had moved his gun back to his face.

"What about you?" Rick moved his gun to Oscar, who in difference to Axel stood his ground and looked at him right in the eyes.

"I ain't never pleaded for my life. And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do."

Rick chuckled, turning to look at the other two prisoners. "Now you're going to tell me you were just innocent men, wrongly convicted?"

"You are good men, we're not afraid, our actions speak louder than anything we could have ever said." Rick eyed the two brothers, who were standing shoulder to shoulder and lowered his gun.

"Get in there," he pointed towards the now cleared cell block. "There's the end of our deal." The four men walked into the space, wincing at the amount of bodies littered everywhere.

"Oh man! I knew these guys; they were good men." Axel sighed as he looked on, dropping his head as he did so.

Rick signaled T-Dog and Daryl to follow him out, giving the place a last look as they did so. Connor and Murphy nodded to them as they walked past them. Connor's eyes were on Daryl, sure there was something else going on there, and there was no way he was going to let this go on without figuring it out.


	3. The Killer Within

Notes: If you guys want to discuss this... hit me up in Tumblr (Geektaire)

 **Chapter III - The Killer Within**

The last rays of light were just disappearing behind the trees when Carol opened the door to the tower closest to the prison. She took a deep breath as she reached the top, overlooking the now walker free yard. Their first full day in the prison had been spent getting rid of the corpses as best as they could, piling them up on one side so they could burn them later on.

Now in possession of their own cells, or perch as Daryl refused to step into the cells themselves, it seemed like things were starting to look up. With Hershel and Lori out for obvious reasons, the watch had to be divided among the six left that were able to handle guns. Daryl had given her a small smile as she fought over her right to be part of the guard rotation. He was proud of her, and she was going to be forever grateful to him for teaching her how to defend herself.

She leaned against the rail as she continued to let her eyes roam over the scenery. The night shifts were divided into threes, so each had a little over three hours each before someone else took over. She had first shift, followed by T-Dog and Daryl at last; with a change in the lineup the night after the next when they were back on. A movement to her right made her turn and raise her rifle, only to breathe out as she saw it was one of the inmates moving closer to the inside fence. The man noticed her movement, raising his hand in greeting to which she just gave him a nod and lowered her rifle.

The men staying in the other cell block caused some mixed feelings in her. She knew from what the others said they apparently weren't in there because of violent crimes, and two of them had helped them quite a lot, but she hadn't had any contact with them, and she was willing to leave it at that. Her experiences with the male gender hadn't been the best and she was not willing to risk it; as strong as she had become, the scars would always be there.

A few minutes passed before she looked back at where the man had been, only to find him still there, staring out at the yard, his lithe body unmoving.. Not giving him any more thought, she turned back to the matter at hand, keeping a tally of the amount of walkers she saw approach the fence during the time she was there as well as to try to see a pattern to their movements. The sunlight was completely gone, the only light coming from the almost full moon. When she once again looked at the old watch Ed had given her, it was to see two hours had already passed.

She frowned when she turned and saw the man was still in the same place she had seen him before, a lit cigarette in his mouth by the looks of it. Curiosity got the best of her, and she moved to put the gun at her back, deciding to climb down from the tower and approach him.

Murphy had been sick and tired from being inside, the last ten months in that cafeteria had taken a lot out of him, and just the feel of the walls and bars made his skin crawl. They had spent most of the day cleaning and moving bodies to try and make at least part of the cell block habitable, to minimize the stench of death and rot all around. Connor had almost fallen asleep the moment he had crawled into the lower bunk, but he hadn't been able to stay still.

After letting his brother know he needed to get out, he grabbed one of the used packs of cigarettes they had found while scavenging the dead and walked out the cell block to the inner courtyard. The moment he was out, and he was able to breathe fresh air, the oppressive feeling in his chest eased a bit. He walked around, moving until he was by the fence, and just rested his head against it, breathing as deeply as he could.

He saw movement in his peripheral vision, turning to see someone up in the watch tower with a rifle pointed at him. He couldn't do anything but raise a hand in acknowledgment and pray to the Virgin Mary and Saint Patrick he didn't get his ass shot. His brother would hate if something happened to him.

After that, he just let the breeze caress his skin as he lit one smoke after another. He wasn't even processing how long he had been there, but he just knew he wasn't willing to go back in yet. The sound of a metal door closing made him focus on something to his left, only to see who he had waved at from the tower exit it.

It was a woman, he hadn't been able to tell from the low light and the distance at first. It was the gray haired lady that had been trying to save the old man the day before. As she approached him, he moved to offer her his almost finished pack of cigarettes.

"What are you doing here?" Carol asked as she saw the man take another cigarette and put it to his lips.

"I just needed a smoke, love," he smiled at her, the cigarette in his mouth.

"You've been here for the past two hours," she stated dryly. She had a no nonsense attitude he couldn't help but find amusing. He schooled his features, refusing to let on to how intrigued he was by her. Contrary to his brother's opinion, he wasn't stupid. He just shrugged, taking another long breath, watching her as he did so.

"Just don't start any trouble," she muttered, turning to look at the yard. The first thing she had noticed, and that she was seriously going to talk to Daryl about, was how much he looked like the hunter. He had the same haircut Daryl had sported when they'd first met; she couldn't be sure, but she was almost sure their eyes were the same shade of blue, and they even had the same cute birthmark at the left side of their mouth.

"Wouldn't dream of it, ma'am." She could hear the teasing in his words, and tried without success to keep the small smile from reaching her mouth. Murphy turned to look up front too. She had a pretty smile, and he just knew it wouldn't be long before he tried to make her smile again. "Name's Murphy," he said, still looking ahead.

"Carol," she answered, frowning slightly as he pulled the gun strap higher up her shoulder from where it was threatening to slip. They stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, close but not too close. "Don't do anything stupid," Carol muttered as she gave him a last look and turned her back on him to return to the watchtower.

It wasn't until the door didn't slam behind her that she turned and noticed he was following her. Her hand tightened on the strap, ready to pull the gun to her if he tried anything. "Just liked the company," he said, looking up to where she was already up a couple of steps on the stairs and grinning at her. Carol stared at him. That was one expression she couldn't say she had seen on Daryl's face before. The man barely smiled after all, and she wondered if her friend's eyes would sparkle with mirth like Murphy's were doing at that same moment. She rolled her own eyes and turned to continue her way up.

The grin remained affixed to Murphy's lips as he walked behind her, his eyes never leaving her backside as she climbed the stairs ahead of him. He was a good guy, and wasn't interested in sex, but that didn't mean he was blind to what was aesthetically pleasing. He moved and sat down, his legs dangling from the edge of the catwalk. He patted the place besides him, looking up at Carol, raising his eyebrows up and down.

With a sigh, Carol shook her head and pulled the strap of the rifle from around her shoulders as she sat beside him, not as close as he had motioned her to, but he took it as a win anyway. The lowest bar of the banister stood at just the right height for him to push his chest against it and let his arms hang in front of it. "What are you really doing out here?" Her voice broke the relative silence around them, loud among the sounds of animals and walkers far below them.

"We were inside there for over ten months." He could feel her eyes on him, looking for something, but not quite sure what. "No fresh air, no sun on our skin, no fresh running water, just the seven of us in a really limited amount of space." He turned to her, trying not to smile as she startled and looked away. He would bet she was blushing at that same moment. "Being in there," he motioned with his head towards the buildings behind them, "is just too much when I could be out here."

"It's safer in there though," she whispered sadly, and he nodded at her words solemnly. "You have no idea how it is out there right now."

"I'm lucky in a way, I guess," he chuckled. "All I care about was in there with me all along."

"Your family?"

"Ma died about six years ago, Pa followed him two years after," he shrugged and gave her a small smile when she looked at him with compassion. "All I have in the world is my brother, Connor, and he's here with me, so …"

"You are lucky then." There was something lurking behind her words, and the way she tensed as he talked about his family, but he was not going to push. She would tell him if she felt like it. "Out there ... out there is just a nightmare."

"You been around then?"

"We were close to Atlanta at first, but we had to leave and then ..." Something in her changed as she related her tale, becoming somehow painfully vulnerable yet strong, and he couldn't help but be attracted to it. "Then we went to a farm not too far from here, but we had to leave it behind too, a herd came and ran us out. That was like seven months ago. We've just been surviving since then."

He nodded, taking his cigarette and throwing the filter away once he made sure it was out. "And now? I believe you are planning to stay here?"

"Now?" There was a bittersweet smile spreading across her face as she answered his question, "We're hoping we get to live, not just survive." She chuckled at those words, feeling silly for sounding somehow optimistic. "If not for us, then for Carl, Beth and Lori ... she needs somewhere safe to give birth."

"The wee lad who pointed the gun at me and my brother?" He remembered the kid; he was something else for sure.

"Don't let him hear you call him that; he'll throw a fit." She couldn't help but smile at the thought of the boy's indignation at being pointed out for his size.

"Hey," Carol said after they both had fallen silent for a little while, "thank you."

At Murphy's confused face she continued. "I know it was you and your brother who went to the infirmary for what we needed to save Hershel. If it wasn't for all the things you brought back, I'm not sure he would have made it."

"He's good?" They had been sent to their own cell block like scolded school children and hadn't had any other contact with the other group since the day before, so this was the first news he had heard about the old man.

"He's still in pain, and weak, but he's going to make a full recovery; thanks to you."

"Just did what any good catholic would have done." Carol shook her head, what was it with these good men and not being able to accept compliments? They had just done it, no questions asked. They didn't even know the man, and they had gone and faced those things to try and help him.

The rest of her shift continued the same way, and surprisingly the conversation was easy with this man who she hadn't personally known more than two hours before. And yet, it was easier to talk with him than with almost anyone she had met before. He started to yawn more frequently as the time passed, up until she couldn't help but chuckle when his barely open eyes looked at her.

"Go to sleep," she muttered as she shook her head. "You're going to fall from here, and what would I tell your brother?"

"When are you on watch again?" His question as he pulled himself up, startled her slightly. She'd had fun while keeping watch, but to have someone ask to properly join her? To waste their time to do so?

"Day after tomorrow, I start at midnight." At her words, and with a smirk on his face, Murphy waved at her as she watched him disappear down the stairs to return to his cell block. Carol couldn't help but laugh softly as she waited for the rest of her shift to pass, to wait until it was time for her to make her way inside and wake T-Dog. There was just something so intriguing, but at the same time so familiar about Murphy, and she couldn't help but want to find out what it was.

.-.-.

When Murphy finally arrived back to the cell he shared with his brother, he was dragging his feet wearily. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to talk to Carol, how she had a capacity to make him feel if not safe, at least like he could actually talk to someone other than his brother. Connor was sprawled out in the bottom bunk, and seeing as the top bunk wasn't made, he just sighed and after dropping his undershirt in the chair they had dragged into the cell, he jumped over his brother to the space he had left in between the wall and Connor. "Fuckin' Con," he muttered as he pushed his brother so he could half lay on the bunk under him, rolling his eyes as he moved just a little bit, "serves you right, asshole."

When Connor woke up as the first rays of light hit the windows in their cellblock, the first thing he realized was the fact that he could barely feel his left arm, and that it felt as though a sack of potatoes was lying over his back. He groaned as he moved, scoffing as he realized the reason for it was that Murphy had fallen asleep on him, again.

Slowly he moved from under his brother, shaking his arm as it started to hurt as the circulation returned with a vengeance. His brother had always done this, ever since they were little kids. Half of the time their mam would walk into their room to find a bed empty and the younger twin just lying all over him. With a last look at his sleeping brother, he turned and made his way out of their cell, stretching as he did so.

No one else was up yet, it being quite early if he was honest. They had somehow always been like this, Murphy a night owl and him up at the ass crack of dawn. They were so different, but at the same time they fit so well together he truly didn't know what he would do if anything ever happened to him. He sighed as he rested against the top floor banister, looking down at his hands. Before they went into jail, he could have counted the nights they had spent apart with just one hand, those MacManus boys always attached to the hip. When they had chosen to keep them separated as a way of punishment while in maximum security, that in itself being worse than in solitary or any other world comforts was what had been the biggest punishment.

He looked back into the cell, his brother groaning as he started to wake. Murphy had always hated being cooped inside for too long, that and being in any kind of restraints, making it even harder for him during the ten months they had been stuck inside the cafeteria. He wanted to lash out at that asshole Rick for locking them up in this lonely part of the prison, but at least they weren't back at the cafeteria.

"Morning," Murphy said as he left the cell, barefoot and without a shirt while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It made him look so much younger than they actually were. They didn't know who was older than who, and they suspected their mother never really knew either, but he had always felt a compelling need to look after him, to look after his 'little brother', that he didn't really understand. And now, now there was that other man who bore his sweet brother's face that he just couldn't help but wonder about.

"Morning, fuckwit." He put his arm around his brother's back, hugging him to his side. "At what time did you come to sleep?" His back stiffened at his words, and he couldn't help but turn to give him his full attention.

"Morning folks," Axel's voice filtered up from the ground floor, looking up at them as he moved into their line of vision. "Should we go get something to eat?" he asked motioning towards the corridor that would take them back to the cafeteria where their share of the remaining food was stored.

"Later," Murphy said softly as he moved around Connor back into their cell, coming back with his shirt on as well as passing him their weapons before moving to the stairs with a spring in his step he hadn't seen in some time.

"Food, Oscar, food!" Connor yelled as he followed suit. Oscar was also exiting his cell as they started moving out. Their third day out of there, and they still had a lot of work to do to make their part of the prison livable, but they were Irish so they sure weren't afraid of hard work.

It wasn't until later in the day, when they were actually getting things set up before going to bed when they were able to talk again without the other two inmates overhearing them. They had spent most of their morning pulling more dead bodies from the lower levels towards the back of the prison. They had found an enclosed yard which had seemed safe enough to burn the bodies. The brothers were good people, but they weren't so good they weren't afraid to skip out on burning duty, quickly thinking of an excuse to get out of it.

After having lunch - explaining once more to Axel why they were still forced to ration - they worked on scavenging the unused cells, solitary and offices in their part of the buildings. In the end they had found even more cigarettes which they had been able to keep since neither Oscar nor Axel smoked, and other goods they had divided among the four of them evenly.

Connor pushed Murphy away as his brother made to lay down in his bunk once again, pointing at the apparently clean linens they had found in his annoyed face. "C'mon," Murphy whined as he moved to pick up the linens, "why don't you want to share now?"

"Because I woke up with a sack of potatoes with a hard on smothering me."

"I didn't have a hard on," Murphy muttered as he pushed Connor away and dropped himself on the cot, grinning at him as he sprawled out. The older MacManus couldn't help but laugh, pushing his brother towards the wall as he tried to find a comfortable position in a place that was clearly not made for two grown men to share. "I didn't," he repeated, elbowing his twin in the side as they continued to try and find a comfortable way to share the small space.

"I'm not going to be the little spoon," Connor hissed as Murphy turned on his side, "I mean it when I said I don't want your hard on poking at me in the morning."

Murphy finally found a position he didn't hate, putting his head on his brother's shoulder. "That happened once," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Once too many," Connor couldn't help but smile slightly as they laid there in the dark. This was what felt right. They had always been closer than average, and he had always thought it had to do with being twins. It felt like they were both just a part of a whole, although he had to be honest when he said there was something missing there, always. "Hey Murph?" His brother only made a hmm noise waiting for him to continue. "Did you see the guy with the crossbow yesterday?"

"Yeah." He could hear his brother's confusion at the question. "What about him? Daniel? Or something with a D …"

"Daryl." He closed his eyes as he tried to get the courage to continue the conversation. "Did you notice anything about him?" Connor just felt as his brother rose to look down on him, even if they were basically immersed in darkness at the time.

"You fancy him? Him?" Connor groaned at his brother's words, only to huff as the younger twin dropped himself back to where he had been lying without a care in the world. "I mean he might have some kind of rugged redneck thing going …" He didn't let his brother finish his sentence, shoving him against the wall with an annoyed grunt as the other man burst into laughter

"I meant the fact that the bastard looks exactly like you!" he hissed as his brother tried to calm himself down.

"No he doesn't!" Murphy protested, and Connor could picture his face perfectly even in the darkness. He had thought it through over the last twenty four hours, and the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced there was something else there. It couldn't be a coincidence someone looked so much like his brother and not be related to them? It would be too much.

"Murphy?" He felt his brother stiffen beside him. He usually used his full name together with that tone when something was important, and his brother knew it. "I know you, probably better than I know myself," he made a pause, letting those words sink in. Murphy knew it was the truth, he knew his brother better than he knew himself, knew every single gesture, movement, and sound he made like something deep inside himself since birth, so he knew his brother was telling the truth. "And I'm telling you, if it wasn't because of the tattoos, or the hair, and well if we had spent some more time outside, even I couldn't be able to tell you two apart."

"But how?"

"I have no idea, sweet brother, no idea."

.-.-.-.-.-

The next day was almost a carbon copy of the day before: carry, burn, scavenge, repeat. The only thing different was the humor among the inmates. Everyone was quieter, everyone was more on edge and it was noticeable. It wouldn't be long before they either tried to get out, to the yard that was within the other group's space, or start something among them.

After a day of hard work, a horrid dinner - since it had been Oscar's turn and the mountain of a man had no idea of what was usually considered edible - and progressively seeing his brother get more anxious, Connor had barely fallen asleep when he was jostled by his brother moving over him to get out. His hand moved in reflex, grabbing Murphy's wrist. "Where you going?" he groggily asked as his brother tried to get him to let go.

"I need a smoke," Murphy muttered, and Connor immediately knew he was not being told the whole truth. He moved to copy his brother's actions, trying not to smile at his brother's annoyed demeanor as he did so.

"I want one too," was all he said as he followed him out. There was something else going on there, and he intended to find out. He hadn't forgotten his brother still owed him an explanation, somehow left aside after they'd talked about their more important issues the night before. Murphy shot him a glare as if to dare him to say anything as they moved through the dark corridors, lightened only by the moonlight streaming in from the bare windows.

When they reached what he knew Rick considered their territory, and which he also recognized as the way out, he grabbed his brother's arm. He had enough light to see his brother's face, watching him give him a small smile and a nod. He let him go and continued to follow him. The moment they reached the outside, he shuddered. The night was considerably cooler than the inside, and he felt slightly dizzy as the smell of fresh air hit him in the face.

He didn't have a lot of time to get used to it, following Murphy as he made his way through the courtyard, under the moonlight. He noticed his brother kept looking at an old watch he had found and pocketed the day before, walking like he knew perfectly well where he was going. He accepted a cigarette as his brother stopped by the metallic fence and lit up one for himself, doing the same for his. "Come on," Murphy muttered around his cigarette, starting to make his way to the watchtower closest to them, opening the door and going up the stairs without waiting for his brother, knowing he was barely a step behind him.

"I thought you weren't going to show up," a voice Connor didn't recognize said as his brother hit the last step, making him stop barely in time to avoid crashing into him.

"Who do you take me for, lass? I always fulfill my promises." His voice was a mix between humorous and flirty, and Connor was interested by that. "I brought a tag along, hope you don't mind." It wasn't until then that Murphy finally moved and allowed him to reach the top, finally able to lay eyes on the person his brother was apparently visiting at these unholy hours of the night.

"Connor." Murphy's voice brought him back to the present, from where he had been staring at the gray haired beauty sitting serenely on the floor of the catwalk surrounding the outside of the tower, her feet hanging as she looked across the field around the prison. "This is Carol. Carol," he said as he sat down beside her, closer than he had done the last time he had visited her. "That's my twin brother, Connor."

.-.-.

Two nights later, the twins found themselves once again up in the watchtower keeping Carol - who they now could probably call their friend - company as she kept guard. The night before last had started a little awkwardly, since neither Connor nor Carol had expected to meet each other at that time. But just as it had happened the time before, in no time the three of them had been talking and exchanging stories like old friends.

The brothers had, by some means, slipped through Carol's walls, and she was glad for that. They reminded her of Daryl, and not only because of the obvious reasons. Murphy was still her favorite though, the Daryl look-alike had brought her a chocolate bar he had apparently scavenged that day from somewhere on their side of the prison. The three of them had shared it and laughed about it.

It also helped that she knew who they were. This night, they were again sitting on the ledge, one brother at each of her sides. It was colder than the other nights, having rained a couple of hours before, and they had used that as the perfect excuse to sit even closer to her than they had dared the time before. It was just about an hour before her watch was over when she decided to confess to them, after all, friendship was about honesty … wasn't it?

"Your secret is safe with me; you know?" Carol said, knocking her shoulder slightly against Connor's with a small smile on her lips.

"What secret, love?" Carol couldn't help but turn and look at Murphy, her gaze leaving him immediately for the yard which was at least now free of rotten bodies. The fact that his face was so like her friend's still freaked her out slightly.

"That you're the saints," she felt as both brothers tensed at the same time, as if even then they were connected.

"Do you reckon we're what?" Connor's voice was slightly higher than usual, and Murphy tried to hide his nervousness with patting down his chest as if he was looking for his cigarettes.

"The saints of Boston," she chuckled, turning to look at Connor, blue eyes meeting blue. "Sixty nine confirmed kills, over eight years, although it was more of two episodes eight years apart." The brothers were as tense as she thought they could ever be. Murphy started to tap the bar in front of them softly with his fingers. "In a maximum security prison, transferred to Georgia correctional without a real cause other than protection because all those they killed were people deep into mob business."

"Us? You got it wrong, lass." Murphy was biting his thumb, his voice muffled by it.

"It's the tattoos." She brushed a finger against Connor's Mary Magdalene on his neck, her eyes bright with mirth at how he shuddered at the contact. "And Murphy does look a whole lot like the sketch the police made of him." Murphy dropped his head groaning, his ears reddening slightly. "To be honest," she continued, turning to look to the front once more, "the first time I saw Daryl, I had to do a double take."

"We don't look that much alike," Murphy moodily muttered, not clear if he was talking about the sketch or the archer, frowning even more when he felt, more than heard, her chuckle.

"And, if our story was popular even here," Connor said, rolling his eyes at his brother's reaction, "what secret is there to keep?"

"It wasn't that popular," Carol confessed as she looked down at her hands, "I mean, I don't believe it was, and we're a long way from Boston."

"Then?" Connor gave his brother a look over Carol's head at the tone he used, a mix between flirting and cautious. "How is it that you know? That you remember such details?"

"I was in Boston," she paused and took a deep breath, "when you guys killed that guy in front of the judge, and I guess the story just stuck in my mind." She was clearly lying, both of them could see from the way she tensed as if expecting the worst.

"Alright," Murphy said softly, his hand moving to grasp one of hers softly. Carol looked down at where his hand was covering hers, and something just felt so right about it she couldn't explain it. This man, a man who had killed more people than she could even begin to comprehend, was so tender with her, his touch, the few times he had touched her since they met less than a week before, had been something she was not used to from any man. Sure, it wasn't like Rick, Hershel, Daryl or T-Dog had ever hurt her, but their touch was always practical, maybe a pat on the back or a gentle squeeze to her shoulder to show companionship. But touch like this? To try and make her feel better? The attempt at a massage Daryl had tried to give her a few days ago was the first soft touch she had felt in a long while.

Carol turned and gave Connor a sad smile, and the younger man could see tears starting to shine in her eyes. "The truth is," her voice broke, and she cleared her throat to be able to continue, "I was in the hospital in Boston, recuperating from surgery I had needed because my husband had thrown me down the stairs." Murphy's hold on her hands tightened slightly as he processed her words. "I remember thinking … if only someone like that would come for me. I had a one-year-old baby, and I was all alone there. I just wished someone like that would have come and just killed him."

She chuckled, releasing one of her hands to try and get rid of the few tears which had tried to escape her lids. "Once we were back here in Georgia, after 2007, I had the courage to call the police and press charges. I even went to an abused women's safe house in Atlanta, but he got out on bail the day after and forced me to drop them. I was terrified of him, so I did. We moved away, and at the first chance he got, he landed me in the hospital for a week." Connor could see his brother's expression, and he was glad her husband was not there with them, because he was sure he would have beaten him to death. "It's stupid, I guess." Connor shook his head, turning his body towards her slightly. "I basically read everything about you guys, and just kept paying attention whenever your names were mentioned."

Silence followed her confession as the three of them tried to process what had happened. She couldn't explain how it had been that she had been able to open up about this to basically two strangers when it had taken a lot more to do so towards the Greene family.

"Is he dead?" Connor asked softly as his left hand moved to rest upon her knee. Carol grimaced and nodded, and without really meaning to started tracing the words tattooed on it. _Veritas_. Truth.

"Walkers?" Murphy asked, his eyes focused on the side of her face. He marveled at what an incredible woman they'd found in the midst of such chaos. She nodded again, and she didn't need to say anything else. The sun started to come out, painting their view in oranges and reds. They knew they would have to move soon. Her shift was almost over and they knew the rest of their group were not exactly welcoming them with open arms. But they could stay a little while longer to keep her company, and so they did.

.-.-.-

The sun hit them in the eyes directly for the first time in a week, and they couldn't help but sigh. It had taken them seven days, that was it. The four of them, together, had taken the determination that they couldn't stay in their part of the prison exclusively any longer. Yes, it was a bigger place than the cafeteria, but the feeling was somehow the same.

In honesty, the brothers had been able to handle seven days just because they had been able to sneak out to see Carol at night. But neither Oscar nor Axel needed to know that.

They started to make their way towards the inner fence when they heard laughter, and who possibly was Daryl yelling something. As they reached, they were able to see the other group as they joked around. Without meaning to, the brother's eyes were immediately drawn to the two in the middle, smiling as they saw Carol giggling and pushing Daryl as they walked back to the front gate.

The moment they were noticed, the body language of the whole group immediately changed. Gone was the camaraderie and friendliness they had been witness to just seconds before, now there were three really angry men and a wary woman staring their way.

Rick and the rest of the group made their way to them, stopping a few feet from the fence, just outside the inner gate. "That's close enough. We had an agreement," he practically growled.

As usual, when it had something to do with begging, Axel was the first one to open his mouth. "Please, mister. We know that, we made a deal. But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

Carol frowned as she heard the small man talk. She knew, from what the brothers had told her, the bodies were long gone, and at least their cell was as clean as it was going to get. "Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked from his place by her side. She took the opportunity to look at her friend and somehow compare him to the man standing beside his brother in front of them. Daryl's skin was obviously darker, but that could just be because the man had always spent time outside rather than actual skin tone; if she didn't remember wrong, from the few times she had been allowed to see his back or chest, he probably was as pasty white as the two Irishmen standing there.

"You should be burning them." T-Dog said as they watched as Maggie and Glenn arrived standing at the inmates' backs.

"We did it, we just keep getting more each day," Connor said, his eyes on Rick. He knew the other man was just looking out for his family, but he was not going to back down. His and Murphy's escapades were not enough, they were not going to stay cooped up inside any longer if they could help it.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. He," Oscar pointed at Murphy, "found an inner yard, enclosed, where we've been burning them, but they just keep getting in."

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!" Axel was whining, again.

Rick sighed, his eyes hard as he looked over the four men standing in front of him. "Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

Oscar shook his head, sighing as he talked to Axel who had been the one to bring up the idea of talking to them. "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like … Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew." He turned to talk to Rick then, who immediately put his hand over his pistol as the bigger man took a step towards him. "Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me … we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole."

They noticed how Rick turned to Daryl for advice, and they couldn't help but glare at the redneck as he shook his head at him. Carol, meanwhile, had to stay put at Daryl's side; true she knew Murphy and Connor, but she had no idea what type of men Axel and Oscar were. She also wasn't sure what reaction Daryl would have if she approached them so openly, and her friend was not exactly the coolest headed person there.

Rick made a motion for the four of them to follow him, making them fall in line behind him. Carol gave them a small smile as they walked by her, frowning when Daryl glared at her as he walked behind them.

"Get in," Daryl said once he had opened the inner gate, motioning with his head for them to move.

"Just think about what you're doing," Connor said softly as he stopped in front of him, Murphy walking inside behind him, "you know we don't deserve this, you know we gotta stick together."

"I know nothing about this," the archer sneered at him, as he pulled the gate closed with more force than necessary, locking them inside.

"Come on, dude!" Axel yelled at his retreating back, as he made his way back to where Rick, Carol and the rest of them were waiting for him. Carol watched as the two men talked, noticing how whatever Connor had said to him, had affected Daryl more than he wanted to let them know.

"I think we should let them stay," T-Dog said as he looked at the men from the corner of his eye. He had been front and center through all their interactions, those men, especially the brothers, had fought alongside them without harming them. They deserved at least a chance in his book.

As Daryl took his place between Rick and Carol in the small circle they had formed, he looked at her. He had seen the smile she had given to those men, and it wasn't that he was jealous, but why would she do that? She didn't know what they were capable of!

"Are you serious?" Rick said to T-Dog "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know; Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn said as he threw a look at where the men were standing, shaking his head as he did.

"What about the brothers?" Carol asked, feeling as Daryl tensed beside her. "If it wasn't for them, Hershel would probably be dead, and you also said they had warned you about the other guy." She said the last part to Daryl, her voice soft as she did so.

"It's just been us for so long … They're strangers. I don't … it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around," Maggie said as she looked at Glenn, at the rest of their family.

"You brought us in." It wasn't that T-Dog trusted the men, but to send them away, out there on the road to face the same hardships they'd suffered over the long winter? That felt too much like a death sentence to him.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice." The sad smile on Maggie's face was everything they needed to remember how exactly their first encounter had been.

"And without at least two of them, your daddy would have been dead," Daryl's words made her zoom into him immediately. The quiet man looked down, not knowing the reason why he had felt the need to jump to their defense like that.

"Those four might actually have less blood on their hands than we do," T-Dog muttered, to which Carol had to stop herself from actually reacting to. The MacManus brothers definitely had more blood on their hands than probably all of them together, but it had always been for a reason. Always.

"I get guys like this," Daryl said, his voice low as he looked specifically at the brothers who made eye contact with him. "Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys." He broke the eye contact to look back at the group, trying not to let them know how desperately he wanted for them to stay.

"Are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Glenn asked uncomfortably as all eyes turned on him. He gave them a nervous smile, as he pointed at Daryl and then at where the inmates were. "About the fact that there's a guy who looks like he could be Daryl's twin brother?"

The silence following his statement was complete. No one dared to say anything, while at the same time they all pretended they weren't looking at Daryl.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and two weeks later he shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands," Rick said breaking the silence which had fallen between them. His tone was hard, not open to debate.

The group broke apart as Rick moved away, both Carol and Daryl looking back to the brothers without really noticing the other doing the same.

"They're going to kick us out," Connor muttered to Murphy, seeing Carol and Daryl's dejected looks as they moved to continue working around the yard.

"Better now than later, I reckon," his brother said as he pulled a cigarette from god knows where and put in his mouth without lighting it. He was nervous. He didn't want to leave and neither did Murphy. Connor sighed as they moved away from the fence, sitting down in the shade as they waited for whatever it was that their future would bring them.

They didn't need to move until the doors were open so they could move their cars and Daryl's bike inside. They laughed at Axel's attempt to make friends with Murphy's clone, noticing how the man tried to steal looks at both of them while pretending not to. He was curious about the reason for their likeness. That could work in their favor somehow, they hoped.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later when Glenn, Rick and Daryl approached them, a backpack and a box of supplies with them. Rick and Daryl moved past them as soon as the door was open, leaving the box on the ground, moving to door leading to the fenced corridor. "There's enough food in there to last you guys a week. Cut you loose when we get back." Glenn told them as he moved to follow them.

"Thank you, bro." Axel said, trying somehow to appear friendly to the man.

Glenn gave them a somewhat sad look "Sit tight," He said, and followed his companions.

"Thank you bro?" They could hear Oscar making fun of Axel behind them as they watched Daryl walk away from them without a backwards glance.

"I guess he doesn't care," Connor said so just Murphy could hear him. They moved so they could watch where Carol was. Their friend was driving the cars into the inner courtyard, out of their direct eyesight. "I'm going to miss her, though." The sad smile he witnessed on his brother's face made him hate Rick Grimes a little more than he had before. A lot more.

.-.-.-.-

As they walked the fence and argued about what needed to be done, Daryl couldn't help but let his mind wander back to the two men who had helped them so much. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was some weird shit going on, but how on earth could It be that there was someone who looked exactly like him? Were they related? Why the hell had Carol tried to jump to their defense? Why?

"We're behind a fence. It's worth a one-time risk to get rid of the bodies for good. I don't want to be planting crops in walker-rotted soil. Daryl? Daryl?!" Rick's voice calling his name jerked him from his reverie. There was no time for wool gathering; he had something to do and he couldn't afford to be distracted. It wasn't like he could change anything. Rick would never allow them to stay, and nothing he said mattered.

The three of them went back to the place where they had opened the fence the week before, the mission being to get as much timber and wood to finally burn the pile of bodies they had made on the side of the yard. The three of them worked diligently and quietly, only talking when there was need to warn someone of an approaching walker. Once they'd collected as much as they could carry. they made their way back inside.

"Looky here." The smile on Daryl's face was as big as he'd had in a long time. From where they were standing, they could see as Hershel made his way across the courtyard on his crutches.

"He is one tough son of a bitch. Alright, Hershel!" Glenn laughed, yelling the last part as he waved at the old man and the rest of their family standing in the inner courtyard.

"Keep your cheers down," Daryl shushed him, pointing at the walkers behind the fence which had started moving at the young man's noise.

Glenn rolled his eyes at him, "Oh, man, can't we just have one good day?" to which Rick just shook his head and chuckled. Their attention was still on the group up there, Hershel on his crutches, Lori, Beth and Carl, with T-Dog and Carol getting out of the cars they had just finished moving to congratulate the old man.

When the first scream from Carl was heard, they didn't understand what the boy had said. They looked in shock as he turned and started shooting something behind him, the clear sound of 'walkers' was heard as he yelled a second time.

All Daryl could remember was the feeling of his heart leaping from his chest as he saw the walkers make their way towards their family. Without thinking, the three of them started sprinting towards the gate. It felt like forever, their boots ripping up the graveled dog run, trying to hold onto an idea of where everyone was, to know which direction Carol had run to.

.-.-.-

"Look," Oscar said as he looked to where the old man was moving around, supported by who he assumed was his daughter. "Lucky son of a bitch."

Murphy elbowed Connor, a smile on his face as they looked on. Carol's words immediately came into his thoughts, their part in that man being alive and well was one of the few good things they had done lately. They stood up from where they were sitting, making their way to the fence as their attention was taken by Glenn yelling and waving at the group.

"Fuck! No! Fuck!" was the first thing out of Connor's mouth as soon as Carl had yelled the warning for walkers. Their eyes scanned the area, not seeing any way to be able to escape the fence.

"Carol!" Murphy yelled for the woman as they saw her running through the walkers with the others. "Carol! Fuck!" He sent a searching look at his brother for ideas, for any kind of help. They could see Daryl, Rick and Glenn sprinting towards them, but they were still too far away. "Fuck!"

Connor said nothing, moving to where the chain was looped around and trying to somehow break it, there was no common sense remaining in their minds at the moment. "It's a fucking five shooter!" He yelled as they heard the fighting going on without being able to help. "A fucking five shooter!"

By the time Rick arrived, yelling at them to get out of the way, they had resorted to trying to kick the gate down, which of course was not working, at all. As soon as the gate was open, they sprinted together with the three men towards the prison, leaving the other two inmates well behind.

Glenn was the first one to arrive at the gate, and at Daryl's order he opened it. The three armed men started killing walkers as soon as the gate was open, meanwhile Murphy and Connor stayed back, trying like crazy to find some kind of weapons to help them.

"Catch!" Was all Murphy heard before a knife was thrown his way, just in time for him to catch it and slam it into a walker that was about to reach Connor. With one weapon now, at least, the brothers went back to back once again as they moved together with the rest of them to where Rick was talking to Beth and Hershel.

"What the hell happened?" Rick asked Beth as she and Hershel looked on from behind a closed gate.

As Rick continued to get information, the brothers migrated to cover Glenn and Daryl's back, the four of them, once Glenn threw Connor his spare knife, got rid of the rest of the walkers around them. Glenn approached the gate, swarmed on the other side with walkers, only to see the broken chains on the ground.

"Those chains didn't break on their own. Someone took an ax or cutters to 'em," the young man said, clearly out of breath, looking at Rick as he did so. Rick's eyes immediately went to the brothers, making Daryl, who was standing beside them, move forward as an automatic response. His eyes quickly moved towards the remaining prisoners, who had just then made it to them.

"You think they did it?" Glenn asked, a tint of disbelief in his voice.

"Who else?" Rick growled at him. Daryl glared at Murphy as he saw him open his mouth to try and defend the other men, knowing Rick wouldn't be kind if he did so.

Out of nowhere, the prison alarm went off. The noise almost deafeningly loud, coming from the speakers set all around the courtyard. The walkers just passing through outside the gates, started moving towards them, attracted by it.

"What's that?" Glenn asked as everyone looked around, trying to find where exactly the sound was coming from.

"Oh! You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Daryl and Murphy complained loudly at the same time as they turned in circles, trying to find the speakers.

At Rick's command, the three armed men started shooting the speakers, the sound not disappearing completely as they did so.

"How the hell can this be happening?!" Rick yelled, approaching Connor, grabbing him by the lapels and shaking him.

"We don't know; we got here three months before all this shit!" Murphy yelled as he pulled his brother away from the deputy, glaring at the other man as they stood face to face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it has to be the backup generators!" Oscar said as he approached Rick from behind, throwing his hands up as the desperate man pointed hisgun at him.

"Well how do you turn those off?"

"There's three that's connected to a diesel tank, okay? Each one controls a certain part of the prison. The hatch shut them all off when the prison was overrun!" Oscar explained as quickly as he could, calming slightly as Rick stopped pointing the gun at him.

"Can someone open up the main gates electronically, with full power?" Rick threw an uneasy look at the main gate, their only defense against the walkers outside for the moment.

"Well, I only went in there a few days, I … I guess it might be possible," Oscar stammered slightly as he tried to remember his time there; it had been almost a year before after all.

"Come with us!" he ordered Oscar before he took off running without waiting for the rest of them.

"For fucks sake!" Connor yelled as the rest of them ran in behind them, trying to keep some semblance of formation as they did so. The five of them worked together to take down the few walkers they found, reaching Rick just as he entered the block itself.

"Lori! Carl!" They heard Rick yell, reaching him just as Daryl shot a walker going to take him by surprise. "There's no sign of Lori or anyone!"

"They must have been pushed back into the prison!" Glenn said as he looked around.

"Somebody is playing games! We'll split up and look for the others. Whoever gets to the generators first, shut 'em down!" Rick ordered, taking off into the deeper parts of the prison.

"Let's go!" Daryl said as he followed them, his free hand pushing at Murphy's back to hurry him along. It wasn't long before the group split up. There was no time for arguments so the brothers went with Glenn while Daryl took off with Rick and Oscar.

"This way!" Connor said as he plunged his knife into the skull of a walker. "The generators are this way, I think!"

"You think?!" Glenn yelled as he sliced the head of a walker with his machete. "You think?!"

"WE GOT HERE THREE FUCKING MONTHS BEFORE ALL THINGS WENT TO SHIT!" Murphy yelled as he slammed his knife into three walkers in a row, one after the other.

The three men continued their way into the deeper parts of the prison, taking out as many walkers as they could barring their way. They were way past the infirmary when the alarm suddenly stopped, the only sound heard was their tired pants as they tried to regain their breath. As much as they had been looking for the backup generator, they had also been looking for the rest of their group, and they hadn't found either.

"Maybe they're already back," Murphy said as they saw Glenn stop and close his eyes as if trying to focus.

"Let's head back," Glenn said, trying to keep his voice level. His hands were shaking, blood spattered all over. The brothers silently followed, calm but alert for anything that moved. It was a few minutes before they heard noise in front of them, sighing when they realized it was the rest of their group.

Rick and Daryl took point as the rest of them followed. Weapons up, alert. As they moved through corridors neither group had walked, they encountered a few walkers, and quickly disposed of them.

Everyone stopped in their tracks as they turned a corner, only to encounter two walkers eating someone lying on the floor. Murphy leaned over Daryl's shoulder, trying to get a look at who it was. "Is it Carol?" he whispered so only the archer could hear him. Daryl, sadly shook his head as he shot one of the walkers eating T-Dog while Rick did the same with the other.

Murphy and Connor moved to stand behind Daryl, most of their movements unconscious, as the other man kneeled to pick up something from the floor. He turned then to show them what he was holding. Carol's red scarf.

Connor's free hand immediately went to grab his brother's shoulder, feeling as Murphy just deflated. Daryl stood up, sadly looking at Rick and Glenn, shaking his head before wrapping the scarf around his fist, continuing on their way to get out and regroup.

The small group moved quickly and as silently as they possibly could. They tried to barricade as many doors behind them before reaching where they started at Cell Block C.

"Hershel!" Rick yelled as soon as they exited, not seeing anyone else outside yet.

"You didn't find 'em?" The vet asked as he hopped down the stairs to join them.

"We thought maybe they came back out here." Glenn said softly, his voice breaking as he did so, worried when there was no sign of Maggie.

"What about T, Carol?" Hershel looked at Daryl's defeated posture, already knowing his answer.

"They didn't make it." Murphy's arm just went around Connor's back as Daryl muttered those words. The brothers were standing behind him, close but not crowding the man, silently giving him their support without really noticing.

"That doesn't mean the others didn't. We're going back! Daryl and Glenn, you come with me … you two -" Just as Rick was starting to bark out orders to a tired and defeated group a baby's cry was heard. Slowly, Rick turned around only to see Maggie opening the gate with a barely responsive Carl walking behind her.

She was crying, unable to connect two words together. They all looked on as Rick started to make his way towards her, his weapons long forgotten as they dropped from his numb hands. He looked at Carl, at Maggie's bloody hands, at the baby.

"Where is … where is she?" The anguish in his words are heartbreaking.

Watching Rick break down in front of them, Rick who had been the reason why they had probably made it that far was eye opening. Daryl couldn't take his eyes off the man as he approached his son and tried to wrap his head around what had happened. To be honest, he hadn't been able to do so either.

Lori was gone, T-Dog was gone, and ... _Carol_. Daryl felt as if someone had punched him in the chest as he tried to process it. Sweet, gentle, teasing Carol was gone, and all he had left of her, of the woman who had offered him compassion and friendship for the first time in his life was the scarf he had wrapped around his hand. He could see Hershel begin crutching across the courtyard, but as he tried to make himself move behind him, his body just wouldn't obey.

He shook his head slightly, trying to keep his balance as everything started to sway around him. "Breathe," a deep voice said softly from his side as trembling fingertips touched his right hand, the same hand he which clutched Carol's scarf. It was as if his lungs had been waiting for the gentle command to do their job. He took a deep breath as he felt someone else move to his other side, not touching him, but being there, a steady presence.

With those two presences around him, he saw as Rick vanished behind a curtain of pain and anguish. They watched as the man they considered their leader fall, lost to his grief and unable to rise again.


	4. Say The Word

**Chapter IV - Say the Word**

It took Daryl a few minutes to compose himself. Connor and Murphy were still standing at his sides, Murphy closer than the older twin, still grasping his hand tightly through Carol's scarf. He bit his lower lip as they, as a family, watched Rick try and stand up from his prone position on the ground. With a nod to the men at his side, he moved forward, past Carl, Maggie and Glenn, to try and make eye contact with the deputy.

"Rick," he said as he slouched down in front of him, "you with me? Rick?" He turned to glance at the rest of his people, a confused look in his eyes as he tried to look for someone who might have had any idea of what to do.

Hershel sighed, shaking his head. "Let me see the baby," he called to his daughter, and they all moved towards him to see the smallest member of their family.

"What are we going to feed it? Do we have anything a baby could eat?" Murphy noticed how Daryl's mind seemed to be going a mile a minute as the man walked back towards them, questioning the older man. He made eye contact with Connor as Daryl just moved to stand between them once again, closer than both of them had been expecting from the archer.

Beth hurried to help her father as the baby was brought to him, trying not to smile sadly as her father uncovered the bloody but otherwise healthy looking baby. "She seems healthy, but she needs formula or she won't survive."

"No, no way," the gruff man insisted as he moved to back towards the cars while slinging his crossbow across his back, "Not her, we ain't losing anyone else, I'm going for a run."

"I'll back you up," Maggie was the first one to say.

"Me too," her boyfriend followed quickly.

"We're going," Connor raised his head, meeting the archer's eyes.

"Nah, you're staying" Daryl said as he swallowed, shaking his head. "Think of where we're going," he said while he and Maggie moved towards Beth. "Kid just lost his mom, look after him," The archer barely waited for the girl to nod before he started to make his way to the cars, expecting Maggie and Glenn just to follow him.

"We want to help," Murphy said as he quickly followed him, anger clear in his tone of voice. Daryl shook his head, stopping a few feet away, and putting a hand on the other man's shoulder to get him to stop and look at him. Both were vibrating with pent up energy as their eyes locked.

"Need people we can trust here," Daryl's murmured lowly so only the brothers could hear. "He's out of it," he gestured to Rick. "I take Glenn and Maggie, and something happens? Not losing anyone else today." He dropped his hand from Murphy's shoulder, looking at Connor as he continued. "There are guns in my perch, take care of them."

Connor took Murphy's arm and pulled him out of Daryl's personal space, the archer giving him a nod before turning and barking more orders to the remaining inmates. He was impressed by the change in the quiet man as they prepared to go on the impromptu run.

"Maggie, Glenn, _vamonos_!" Daryl shouted as he started to trot towards the cars, "Come on, we're going to lose the light!" The desperation in his voice seemed to jump start everyone into their given jobs, Maggie and Glenn running to catch up with him before he left without them.

"Come on, lad," Connor said as he and Murphy approached Carl, Hershel and Beth. "Let's get this little princess inside and wrapped in something before she catches a cold." There was a somewhat tender smile on the Irishman's face which puzzled Hershel as he looked at the brothers.

It was the first time he'd had any type of interaction with them, and to be honest, he had been somewhat wary of sharing the prison space with known criminals. But he prided himself on his ability to read people, and just as Shane had given him untrustworthy feelings from the moment they'd met, these two men were the complete opposite.

"He's right, son," the vet murmured, casting a sad smile to the young boy. "Let's all move back inside." Carl nodded, looking towards where his dad had disappeared back inside the prison. Murphy put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. The five of them turned to look back as they heard Daryl's bike start before he drove away with Maggie, not looking back as he did so.

"C'mon," Murphy muttered prompting the boy to start moving back inside, away from the carnage surrounding them. "I bet Beth here will be willing to help you clean this little love right up, don't ya reckon?"

Without being obvious about it, the brothers proceeded to take the small group, they had been put in charge of, back into their cell block, covering the front and back just in case they had missed any rotten bastards. Once inside the block, Connor moved to take the guns from where Daryl had instructed, arming himself and his brother before they started picking up the dead bodies together to make the space livable again.

"Why are you doing this?" Glenn's incredulous voice broke them from their internal musings as he came upon the two brothers moving yet another body closer to the door, allowing Hershel, Beth and Carl walker free space to mourn their losses.

"Doing what?" Connor grunted as they threw the last of the walkers from inside the cell block to the pile.

"Helping us," Glenn just chuckled, shaking his head from side to side while running a hand through his hair. "We have been nothing but complete assholes to you and yours; we took over your prison, took half of your food, got your friends killed, and yet here you are, again, helping us through this."

"They weren't our friends," Murphy retorted moodily as he wiped his nose with the back of his right arm.

"Whatever," Glenn muttered as he continued to help removing the bodies. "The point is," he looked up at Connor as the man moved to take the walker he had been trying to drag by the lapels of his shirt and they both pulled him up, "you have been helpful from the beginning, and saved me on more than one occasion down there. You could have just done nothing."

"That's not who we are." There was a look shared between the brothers before Connor continued speaking. "We're not saints." This for some reason made the other brother chuckle. "But we see people needing help, we help them, simple as that." Of course it wasn't as simple as that, it had never been as simple as that, but for the time being, Glenn was willing to accept it.

"What about Daryl?"

"What about him?" There was a tension there that hadn't been before, and Glenn took notice.

"Does he have anything to do with you? With this?"

"That my friend," the Irish accent coming from someone who bore such resemblance with the archer made the Korean stop and fix his attention on the other man, "is what we still have to find out. We know as much as you do, swear to God."

As soon as the cell block was once again free of walkers, and after eating a cold meal of whatever the young woman had been able to get together for them, it was decided what needed to do be done next was to dig the graves for the fallen.

"One of us is staying with them," Connor said to the other two as they looked to where Carl was trying to soothe the crying newborn. "We can't leave them unprotected. We can go, dig them," he said the last part directly to Glenn who looked between the brothers and his people.

The younger man sighed, shaking his head as he tried to keep tears at bay. "No, Daryl trusts you, and so do I. One of you stay with them," he swallowed, trying to relieve the knot of grief he felt clogging the back of his throat. "I need to help dig the graves, they were my friends."

Connor nodded at him, a sad smile on his face. "Then I'll go with you." He arched a brow, cutting off Murphy's protest. "You're better with kids than I am, you stay and see if you can help."

Together, Glenn and Connor grabbed the shovels the group had found a few days before, and walked slowly and silently to the enclosed yard. The only words shared once they arrived was the murmured instructions Glenn gave for where the three graves were supposed to be, and for how deep to dig them.

Ten minutes passed in complete silence between the two men; the only sounds their labored breathing as they worked together, the sounds of nature around them, comforting them as they mourned. "You two are extremely close," Glenn finally broke as he continued to dig what was to be T-Dog's grave.

Connor stopped to wipe his forehead as he stood inside the grave he was digging, turning to look at Glenn. Feeling the other man's gaze upon him, Glenn continued. "You and your brother?"

"We've been sharing space since the womb," Connor grunted as he turned to continue his sad work. "We've been attached at the hip since before we were born, it's just one of those things that happen, ya know?"

"You're twins?" Connor chuckled as he noticed the boy had stopped working and had just turned to look at him, stunned.

"Hey, I know Murphy ain't as good looking as I am, but he's not that bad." The joke seemed to bring the other man out of his stupor, making him blush while Connor just laughed. "Yeah, we're twins." He patted his coverall pockets, finding his pack of smokes and pulling one out. He saw Glenn stop once again and offered him one, which he didn't accept.

"Born here in the land of the free," he grunted, opening his arms mockingly as he motioned to the land around him, the now lit cigarette in his mouth. "Brought up in beautiful Ireland, then moved back here when we were about your age."

Their easy talk continued as they got on with their work, making the grueling task of digging places for the people they lost easier. They were about to be done when they saw movement around them, turning to see Axel and Oscar approaching from inside the prison.

It seemed like their banter had made them, especially Glenn, forget for a little time the reality around them, as well as the thick layer of dirt which now coated their arms. With a tired sigh, the Korean man got out of the grave he had been digging and approached the two inmates; Connor grunted and followed suit, standing a few feet behind him.

"Nice of you to finally join us," the snark in Connor's voice was unmistakable, and Axel visibly cowered at it.

"We were patrolling around the perimeter, trying to help in case Andrew had somehow cut the fences elsewhere. We can't have anymore walkers trying to get in," Oscar said, glaring at the Irishman.

"And? How does the perimeter look?" Glenn had shut down once again, his voice cold and giving nothing away as he stood in front of the two men.

"We did as the redneck said, we got the walkers spread out," Axel answered promptly, not making eye contact with Connor while Oscar glared at him. "Your friends," he continued, taking a small step towards Glenn to which the other man just moved slightly back while putting the shovel in front of him, like a barrier between whatever the man was about to say and himself. "They were good folks."

Something changed in Glenn as Axel said those words, he went from being closed off to aggressive faster than the blink of an eye. "They were _family_ ," he painfully shot back as he turned to continue their arduous work.

"I think I had one friend like that in my whole life," Oscar had seemed to have deflated too, as he looked at Glenn, sadness brimming in his eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss." Glenn nodded, still not looking at them.

"Glenn." A hand on his arm finally made the young man look up from where he had seemed lost staring down into the empty grave he had just finished digging. "Let them help, look," Connor made a motion with his head towards where Glenn could see now was Hershel looking at them. "Go, we got this."

With a nod and a pat on the back, Glenn gave the shovel to Axel as he walked slowly - as if the weight of the word had fallen onto his shoulders - to where his father in law was waiting for him.

"How many more do we need to dig?" Connor tensed as Oscar moved to stand beside him, shovel poised to begin. The smaller man shook his head, putting a hand out to stop him from starting.

"Just one, but I got this." The sadness in the man's eyes was disproportionate to those who didn't know him, and he was alright with that. "We need to start burning all the bodies, the new ones and the ones over there," he pointed towards a side of the yard. With a nod he saw as Axel and Oscar moved to start the job Connor had set them, just as Glenn waved at him as he made his way back into the prison.

"Just you and me now, _A Chara_ ," sadness poured from him through his words as he looked at where he was about to start digging his newest friend's grave. "Just you and me now."

.-.-.

Glenn took a detour, after leaving the yard to check up on the youngest part of his family, before going after Rick. "Carl, Beth?" His voice resonated in the quiet, too quiet, cell block.

A voice shushed him from further in, a surprising Murphy, carrying a sleeping baby while his finger was kept inside her mouth, greeted him as he walked further into it. "They're asleep," was the answer to the unasked question in the man's eyes. "The lad cried himself to sleep about five minutes ago." Glenn looked into one of the cells to see Carl warped up in Beth's arms, both sound asleep with tear tracks staining their faces.

"Beth too?"

The way Murphy tilted his chin as he nodded was such a Daryl thing to do, Glenn had to shake his head slightly to remind himself the man in front of him was not in fact whom he had known for most of the last year. "She couldn't move without waking him, so she decided to take a nap once she saw I had the little princess covered."

"Good, good," he sighed as he approached the other McManus brother, looking down at the sleeping baby. "She okay?"

"She cried herself to sleep," he muttered as he hugged her closer to him. "She must be starving."

"Maggie and Daryl will be back soon," Glenn said with a sigh before looking at the open doors around them. "Do you know where Carl left the keys of the prison?" Murphy nodded, pointing with his elbow towards where the kid's things had been dropped just inside the cell.

With a relieved sigh Glenn picked them up before exiting the cells, and started to walk towards the open door which led to the tombs. "I'm going for Rick," he explained to the other man as both turned at the sound of a door open and closing. It was only Hershel, making his way back inside. "Take care of them."

And with those words, he was off in search of their lost leader.

"She still asleep?" Hershel brought the man out of his thoughts as he wobbled on his crutches towards him.

"Easy old man," Murphy said as he made his way to his side, not touching him, but being there just in case.

"You two," the white haired man chuckled as he sat himself on one of the benches around a table, looking up to the tattooed man as he began to shush the fussing baby in his arms, rocking her slightly as she fell back into a restless sleep. "There's just something about you two I just can't figure out."

.-.-.-

By the time Connor, Oscar and Axel were done moving the scattered bodies, the sun was well past mid afternoon. The three men made their way into the forbidden cell block in silence, tiredness setting deep within their bones from all the physical work together with the sun beating down on them. Connor was soaked to the bone from all the sweaty work he had done, but it was either keep the thick coveralls he wore or risk getting sunburn everywhere. Irish skin and sun did not mix well.

Either way, the door to the tombs opened at the same time they started to walk down the few steps, revealing a weary Glenn. "Ya alright?" Murphy walked out of the cells as he heard his brother's voice.

"I need your help." The brothers looked at each other briefly before moving towards him. Glenn let out a deep sigh, as he dropped himself to the bench closest to him. "We need to bury whatever is left of them." The words seemed hard to even mutter, his eyes were down, staring at his blood soaked hands resting on his lap. "We can't wait any longer." He had seen what had been left of T-Dog again as he made his way back from trying to talk to Rick, and he just couldn't let anyone else go through that.

"Alright," Connor agreed as his eyes left the young man's figure and turned to Oscar and Axel, who were just in the outskirts of room. "Oscar, could you go get some of the extra linens we have in our block, and then join us down there?"

"Where are you going?" Everyone turned to look to where Carl stood, hat back on as he shuffled his feet at the opening of the cell block.

"Hey buddy." Glenn's pained smile and friendly tone did nothing for the lost boy, his eyes going from his friend to the brothers. Murphy made his way to him, stopping next to him. He looked towards where Hershel was sitting inside his cell, the tired old man giving him a nod as if in permission to say what was really going on to the young man.

"We're going to retrieve ya mum's body and the rest of your friends." The sadness in the boy was palpable, but at least he was calmer than before. "The four of us need to go down there, so we need you to stay sharp and look after the people here. You up for it?" Murphy's eyes searched the boy's, nodding at him before dropping his hand from his shoulder and going back to Glenn and his brother.

"Let's go." With a last look at Carl, Glenn led the way as they tried to bring some semblance of normalcy back to their group.

"He's strong," Murphy said to both Connor and Glenn as soon as Oscar and Axel had left them to go and get the much needed linens. "Kids are resilient; he'll be alright."

"I hope so," Glenn muttered as they continued on their way down, trying to avoid where he had last seen Rick, knowing the man was a danger not only to himself, but to all of them in his present state of mind.

"We know where T-Dog and Carol died." Glenn was barely able to choke out the last word, taking a deep breath before trying not to heave as the stench of walker filled his nose. A warm hand patted his back in comfort as he tried to get it together once again. After a few deep breaths he pulled himself back up. glancing at the two men in front of him. "Any idea where Lori might be?"

"Carl," Murphy cleared his throat as he looked everywhere but at Glenn, "he, when he was crying, he just needed to let someone know what had happened." His brother moved to his side, silent support as he had always been. "The boiler room."

Silently the three men continued on their way, guns drawn and ears open to any kind of danger. A few corridors down, they met again with Axel and Oscar, dreading the task before them. The tension was palpable as they arrived at the boiler room, Glen on point. The horrified sound the Korean man let out, as they turned to see a walker eating his way through the dead woman, was haunting.

Oscar was the first one to react, slamming his pipe into the walker's head, using it to pull him away from the dead woman's body as it fell. "Fuck," Connor muttered as they saw Glenn approach the barely recognizable body on the ground, tears running down his cheeks.

"Oh, Lori," Glenn whispered as he fell onto his knees next to what was left of his friend. The walker had gotten to her, and had had enough time to gorge itself. Her long dark hair, as well as her top being the things which marked her as the lost member of their group. The brothers made their way to the weeping man, putting a hand on each of his shoulders while kneeling beside him. The MacManus brothers both made the sign of the cross before lowering their heads in prayer. A few moments passed, the only sounds Glenn's sniffing and the brother's softly uttered prayers.

Connor extended a hand towards where he knew Oscar was standing, to which the man responded by passing him one of the white sheets. Slowly he moved from his knees, to extend the sheet and lower it over the fallen woman. "I got it," Glenn said as the brother's moved to carry the body. With a nod, they let the man who had known her better finish wrapping her in the now bloody sheet, using a second one to try and keep Carl from seeing the amount of blood before standing up with her in his arms and leaving the boiler room.

At their insistence, Glenn made his way back their cell block with Axel acting as a guard as the three of them followed the corridors to where they had found T-Dog and Carol's scarf. They found the man's body exactly where they had left him, and repeated the actions they had done with the other body.

"I don't see the other woman," Oscar muttered as they finished, looking around. "They said there was another woman, right?" Connor could sense the heartbreak he was feeling reflected in his brother, and he knew he had to get Oscar to stop talking so lightly about their friend before his brother did something stupid.

"She's not here," he said sadly, pulling his brother up and pushing him towards a closed door. "Look over there, to see if you see her." Murphy glared at Oscar, who was still crouching by the body and didn't notice.

He watched Murphy disappear behind the door, returning a few seconds later, shaking his head negatively. "She's not there."

With an even heavier heart, the three men returned with the remains of the black man who although not as friendly as their Carol, had at least shown them some compassion.

As soon as they returned with the body, it was decided by Hershel they needed to bury them. The state of their remains would be nothing but a beacon for the walkers left inside the prison, and with a heavy heart the remaining survivors made their way to the newly dug graves. Apparently while they had been retrieving the bodies, Beth had kept Carl distracted by picking pieces of wood they had found lying around, and tying them down with some rope they had stolen from Daryl's perch, serving as grave markers.

The four outsiders helped them lay the bodies to rest, staying behind as the four members of the group mourned their dead as best as they could at the moment. It was decided a proper - or as close to proper as possible - service wouldn't take place until the rest of the family were back. So as soon as the graves were covered, and the crosses were put in place, Hershel announced that it would be better if they all went back inside. The sun was starting to set, and the baby's cries were starting to resonate around the yard, rousing the walkers just walking by.

"Carl?" The boy was standing in front of his mother's grave, staring at the crooked cross which marked it. As Glenn repeated the question, Carl finally raised his head, looking way younger than his thirteen years of age.

"How will we know?" His voice was small, broken.

"How will we know what?" Glenn asked softly, making a motion for the rest of the group to go ahead as he remained at Carl's side.

"Who's grave is whose?"

"We could mark them." He pointed at some rocks just a few feet ahead of them. "Their initials for each; would that be alright?" The boy nodded, tears in his eyes but refusing to let them spill, as they silently and diligently moved and marked each of the three graves.

.-.-.-

Glenn couldn't help but sigh again as he looked at the road from where he was standing on top of the watch tower. It was well beyond sundown, and still there was no sign of Daryl and Maggie. He had brought Oscar and Axel to help them, since it had been decided the twins were going to take the rest of the night shift as soon as the archer and his girlfriend returned.

He could still hear the echo of the baby's cries, hoping it wouldn't be too late. He agreed with Daryl, they couldn't lose the baby too, it would be too damned much. His head shot up, there was a noise breaking the quiet of the Georgia night, and he couldn't help but smile as it just grew louder with each passing moment.

"They're here!" Oscar and Axel started banging the shovels they had against the side of the fence as soon as they heard his words, while Glenn took out a couple of walkers that were too close by the time Daryl arrived at the gate. The biker didn't even try to stop, zooming past them in their haste to get back and feed that poor starving baby.

"Go, go, go!" Daryl yelled at Maggie as soon as he stopped, turning the bike off at the same time he threw the stand down and hurried into the block behind her.

"Beth," Maggie called as soon as she made her way through the door, the archer not far behind her. The sisters immediately started preparing the baby's milk as the redneck made his way to Carl, who was sitting between Hershel and Murphy, rocking the baby and talking to her softly.

"How is she?" Daryl murmured as he took the small newborn from the boy's arms with more tenderness than anyone had seen ever in the man. He immediately started to gently shush her, gazing down at her scrunched up face as she cried in hunger. The moment the bottle was done, it was immediately in his hand, and as soon as it touched the baby's lips, she started to suckle as if there was no tomorrow.

"C'mon, c'mon," he crooned to her softly as she started to grunt as the milk began to flow into her mouth. A chuckle and a smile appeared on Daryl's face as he looked up at the rest of his people in wonder at the precious thing in his arms. His smile turned into a grin as his eyes connected with the twins, who were grinning back at him just as much.

"She got a name yet?" he asked Carl as the boy stood in front of him, staring at the now quiet baby in wonder.

"No." The boy looked down, not being able to handle the eye contact at the moment, "Not yet," he sighed, "I was thinking of Sophia, then there's Carol, too. And Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know."

Pain blossomed inside Daryl's chest. He had spent all day trying not to think of what he had lost back there; he had spent all day focused on not allowing his family to lose anyone else. He had not allowed himself to even think about her. He had almost broken down when he had read her girl's name in a children's handprint at the daycare where they'd found the supplies, but it wasn't time then, and it wasn't time now either.

The baby made a noise as she continued to eat, making him look down. "Yeah, you like that?" He bounced the baby slightly, "Little ass-kicker". A smile appeared in his face once again, looking at their little miracle. He looked up, smiling at the rest of their family, "It's a good name, right?" The chuckles he got from them felt like a victory amongst the pain and suffering they had faced that day.

"Little Asskicker, you like that huh?" He continued to move side to side as the baby fed. "You like that, sweetheart?"

Once the baby was fed, in a diaper for the first time in her life, and dressed in baby clothes, things seemed to start to wind down inside. It wasn't before long that the brothers left the block and headed towards the watchtower. They'd convinced the rest of the group that they would be alright there for the time being. After all, it was almost midnight by the time they finished their recounting of the day on both sides, and there was two of them.

"She deserved better." It wasn't until a few hours later that the silence was broken Murphy's softly uttered words. He was leaning on the lowest banister, legs hanging as his brother laid down behind him, trying to get some sleep which eluded him.

"They all did; they were good people."

"She's with her little girl now, there's that at least."

"Aye," Connor turned on his side, his eyes on his brother's tense back. "You fancied her, didn't you?"

"Don't know, maybe," Murphy shrugged. "Doesn't matter now."

"This always happens; you know?"

"Let me guess." The glare thrown his way made him snicker lightly. "So did you."

"And something tells me, your doppelgänger did too."

"Fuck!" His head was in his hands, banging it against the metal bar in front of him more than once. "There's that too."

"He's ours." The tone of absolute certainty in Connor's voice made Murphy turn around and look at him. "He's got to be."

"You're sure?"

Connor sighed as he moved until he was sitting beside his brother, as close as they could get. "if you're asking me for a birth certificate, no," he paused, turning to look into blue eyes so like his own, "but I know, in here." He put his hand on his brother's chest, feeling how his heart beat a steady rhythm.

With a deep sigh Murphy dropped his head onto his brother's shoulder, keeping watch as they waited for the new day together, the two of them, as it had always been. The night was quiet, a comforting silence falling between them as they kept their new family safe, as they allowed them to mourn their dead from the safety of their beds.

"Look, Murph." Connor woke his brother as the first rays of light started to make their way into the sky. "A brand new day." The peaceful silence was broken by the slamming of a metal door, making both brothers turn to search out the cause of it.

Daryl made his way out of the cell block and down the courtyard silently, head down, pensive. They watched as he passed their position, not even acknowledging the fact they were there as he made his way - not to the front gate as they initially suspected, judging from the crossbow at his back - but towards the makeshift graveyard opposite.

Quickly, the brothers made their way down the stairs, and moved as silently as possible to catch up with their third. They stopped a few feet behind him as they watched him miserably gaze down at Carol's tomb; his body tensing when he finally noticed their presence behind him, but he didn't bolt.

Connor and Murphy shared a look behind his back, moving slowly to flank him as he stood there, waiting for him to talk. "I knew you were speaking to her," he hugged, feeling them stiffen in surprise. "She was my ..." he sighed as if trying but failing to name what she had been to him. "She told me about the two of you, and how good you were."

Silence engulfed them as the three of them thought back to the woman they had lost, to what she had meant to Daryl, and what she could have been for the brothers. Daryl moved the hand hanging by his side to pull something from the inside pocket of his vest. He shook his head as he showed first Connor to his left and then Murphy to his right the slightly crushed Cherokee Rose he had taken yesterday from their run for this purpose only.

"I gave her one before." His hand shook slightly as he held the flower tenderly in his hand, "When her little girl was missing, I brought her one to try and help her keep hope, to have a little faith I'd find her." His chuckle was more in irony than proper humor. "Much as it helped. Now, I guess they will always remind me of her." He moved forward to kneel along the edge of her grave, placing the flower in the middle of the rocks which spelled her initial.

He felt as the men behind him moved to kneel at his sides, and he took a deep breath as they put a hand on his shoulder each. He waited for the gut reaction he had whenever someone tried to touch him, that innate need to pull away, but it never came.

"Just repeat with us, brother," Connor murmured as he squeezed his shoulder softly. Their free hands made their way to touch the side of the cross which marked her empty resting place.

"And shepherds we shall be," Daryl had never been a religious person in his life. "For Thee, my Lord, for Thee." But he followed as each brother said a phrase, repeating it with them. "Power hath descended forth from Thy hand." He closed his eyes, lowering his head as he just let himself feel for the first time since his mother had passed away. "That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command." He felt as the men beside him moved until they were both flanking him, kneeling shoulder to shoulder with him. "So we shall flow a river forth to Thee." And for some reason, instead of feeling the need to escape, to get away as it usually did ... "And Teeming with souls shall it ever be." He felt safety, he felt peace. "In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti."

It wasn't until he opened his eyes, that he realized he had been crying.


	5. Hounded

**Chapter V - Hounded**

They hadn't spoken a word with him since he had practically run back into the prison after their prayer. Both brothers had returned to their post, to wait until they were told it was time for breakfast and hence their watch was done for the day. They hadn't needed to talk amongst themselves. They had felt what they did, whatever happened in their future, he belonged with them.

Daryl had needed space. Not only was he trying to process what had happened the day before, the loss of three of their own, the arrival of little Asskicker, Rick losing himself in his grief, but he also was trying to avoid whatever those two men had to do with him.

Lying down on his perch, he listened as the rest of the group started to slowly wake up to a new day. He wished he could just forget the last twenty four hours, he wished he could turn back time and see a return of the laughter and camaraderie they'd had the morning before, wished he could bring _her_ back.

The last conversation he'd had with her, just the two of them, had been in the exact same place he was lying down on. She'd had some trouble sleeping, and as usual, he was up late. Knowingly, she had climbed up the stairs and sat beside him, talking and joking with him until the late hours of the night. Daryl shuddered as he remembered waking to find her lying down beside him, close enough to touch. But he hadn't, and he would never be able to now.

He turned to lie on his side, his back to everyone else as he tried to pull himself together. He heard as Beth and Maggie started on breakfast, as Hershel explained to Carl how to prepare the baby's bottle, and how Glenn was sent to fetch the brothers in for the morning meal. The MacManus brothers were the last people he wanted to see him so vulnerable, and he finally rose calling Oscar and Axel to join him in beginning their tasks of the day.

The mood was predictably low, everyone from Beth to Oscar were at their most sedated. Even the rowdy brothers were on their best behavior, thanking the girls when the food was given to them. They sat as far from Daryl as they could when they felt the man stiffen as they took a step towards him.

Daryl couldn't focus his attention on them; if he did, his mind would start wondering and he would eventually break down and allow them to talk to him. He couldn't do that. He had a job to do. His eyes stayed on Carl as the boy sat in silence picking at his breakfast instead of eating. Sighing, he looked back down to his food when Rick's voice made them all look up. "Everybody ok?"

Maggie was the first one to get her bearings. "Yeah, we are." Rick looked pale and unsettled, but at least he looked present, unlike the day before.

"What about you?" Hershel, the voice of reason, asked as Rick approached where they were sitting, Carl gazed up at his father longing for comfort when the man didn't immediately acknowledge his presence.

"Cleared out the boiler block," Rick's voice was rough, as if he had spent the last day yelling until it was raw.

Daryl threw a look at the twins, who he knew had been in that part of the tombs with Glenn the day before, Connor shook his head, silently trying to convey how unthinkable the feat had been. "How many were there?" He looked, _really_ looked, at Rick. The man was finally peering down at his son, but he was not completely there yet.

"I don't know." Rick's eyes left his son, looking at everyone and at no one at the same time. "One dozen, two dozen."

Anger started to burn inside Daryl at the man's answer, the complete disregard for his children being the cause of it. "I have to get back." The man averted his gaze away from them all once again, turning his back on them while putting a hand on his son's back, patting him. "I just wanted to check on Carl."

The already somber mood had become even more so as they tried to see their friend in the man standing before them. "Rick, we can take care of the bodies," Glenn said quickly, standing up as he motioned to the rest of them. "You don't have to."

"No, I do." The words were muttered as Rick turned and moved across the floor towards where Daryl was sitting down. "Everyone got a gun and a knife?" He asked, glaring slightly as he noticed Connor and Murphy had stood up and moved closer to the archer as soon as he had stalked across the room.

Daryl looked up at him, his posture tense and only his eyes revealing his true feelings. "Yes," his voice was strong, and his tone somewhat daring, "we're low on ammo, though."

Connor recognized the look on Daryl's face, his body language letting him know the true amount of anger the man was trying to keep contained. He moved a little closer to where the other man was sitting, moving to casually lean against the banister at his right.

The movement was not lost to Glenn, who immediately reacted to try and defuse the tension. "Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon." Rick's attention was back on Glenn, and Daryl looked up to make eye contact with Connor, which seemed to be thing he needed to calm himself at least a little. "Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleared the generator room." Rick turned to look at Daryl as the man spoke again, "Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

And without any further ado, just muttering "Good, good," Rick crossed the floor and went back to the prison entrails, slamming the door behind him and disregarding Hershel's calls of his name.

"Fuck him!" Daryl's eyes zoomed into Murphy's form as he heard the barely audible words being muttered from Connor's other side. He couldn't help but chuckle humorlessly, as he shook his head. Silently, everyone returned to their breakfast, their day just beginning.

"He didn't even look at her," Carl muttered a while later, after their task had been divided and everyone had started to collect their things to go with them. Murphy, who had tried to stay close to the boy since the day before, was at a loss for words. He looked at Hershel who was still sitting at the table as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder trying to make him feel less alone.

"I'll go talk to him," the older man said to the boy, his voice soft. Carl just nodded, his head down.

"C'mon, lad," Murphy said to the boy, sitting beside him. "Ya need to eat something, need your strength to watch out for the little asskicker." The use of the nickname brought a small smile to the boy's face, and the Irishman tried not to let it feel like some kind of victory.

As his brother continued to talk to the downcast teen, Connor pulled Glenn, Maggie and Daryl aside to discuss what needed to be done that day.

"We can go get the ammo and other things for the baby." Daryl gave Connor a look as Maggie explained to them. "She needs more than what we were able to get yesterday."

"Alright," Daryl said, grimacing as he touched his knuckles to his mouth. "We'll continue clearing the corridors, as soon as Hershel and Axel are back. We're all going down there and finishing what we started yesterday."

"Ok." Glenn looked at the people around them, trying to be as positive as he could. "We have this, we'll leave when you do."

"What happens if Hershel can't talk some sense into Rick?" All eyes turned to Connor as soon as the man opened his mouth. "What happens to the lad, and Asskicker?"

The temperature of the room seemed to have dropped at the man's words. That wasn't something any of them were prepared to even think about. "We'll make do," Glenn said, sadly.

"We're taking Carl with us." Daryl didn't even bother to react as he felt Maggie and Glenn's eyes heavy on him.

"It'll be good for him." Something just made sense to Connor at Daryl's statement. "He can use the opportunity to burn some of the rage off he must have inside." He turned his blue eyes to the couple in front of him, offering them a smile. "We'll take care of him; he'll be alright."

"Well, if you are sure about that ..." Glenn looked over his shoulder at the young boy who was almost plastered to the other Irishman, and shrugged. "Then it's settled."

.-.-.

The five of them moved silently down the corridors, Daryl and Murphy on point, Oscar and Connor bringing in the rear, keeping Carl between them. There were bodies everywhere, and as they got deeper into the lower levels, the more 'alive' ones they found.

"Should we split up?" Oscar asked as they arrived at an intersection, the silence until then somewhat comfortable.

"Nah," was Daryl's answer, turning to look over his shoulder at the rest of them, "just check around, not far." The taller man just nodded as he motioned to Connor to follow him, moving to the other end of the hallway.

As they spoke, a door began trying to open only to find a dead walker in front, barring it. "Should we get rid of that?" Oscar asked as he raised his machete, looking at the archer for instructions. Slowly, Daryl approached the door, pushing it with his finger to see if there was any resistance; there was barely any.

"Nah," he glanced at his companions, "there must be one or two of them ... we must have missed them last night. We'll get rid of them on the way back." With a last look at the door, Oscar and Connor continued on their way as Murphy moved behind Daryl to catch up with a clearly distracted Carl up ahead.

"Hey," Carl's eyes lifted as they reached him, "C'mon." Murphy pushed him softly to continue on point beside Daryl ahead of him, covering them from the back.

"You know," Daryl voice was his usual rough tone, but there was some sympathy beneath it, "my mom, she liked her wine." Carl's attention focused on the hunter, his head tilted up to see the man as he spoke to him. "She liked to smoke in bed too. Virginia Slims. I was playing out with the kids in the neighborhood."

They continued walking down the corridor as he spoke, the sadness palpable in his words. "I could do that with Merle gone. They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting louder." Murphy swallowed, looking back to see if Connor was listening to the hunter's tale; his brother's eyes made contact with him and he just knew.

"They jumped on their bikes, ran after it, you know? Hoping to see something worth seeing. I ran after them, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner and saw my friends looking at me. Hell, I saw everybody looking at me."

Daryl kept on talking, moving from side to side of the hallway, pretending to be on the lookout for walkers, "Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood. It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed, burnt down to nothing."

Murphy knew what Daryl was trying to do. He was in his way trying to empathize with the poor kid. He wasn't sure how much it would work; Carl had been in an impossible situation. His heart broke though; it broke for the little boy he could picture looking just as he did at that age, looking on as his house burned down with his mother inside.

"That was the hard part. You know? She was just gone. Erased. Nothing left of her. People said it was better that way. I don't know. Just made it seem like it wasn't real." It wasn't until then that Daryl dared to make eye contact with anyone again, and it was with Carl. The cold and sadness in the boy's eyes hurt his heart in a way he couldn't exactly comprehend.

"I shot my mom," Carl's voice was a monotone, as though he was just retelling something someone had said to him, instead of the trauma which had just happened to him less than twenty four hours before. "She was out; she hadn't turned yet. I ended it, and it was real."

"I'm sorry about your mom," Daryl swallowed as the boy lamented his mother's death, a death which had happened more than thirty years before, trying to make him feel better even if his own mother had just died.

"I'm sorry about yours." Carl moved along just as Daryl muttered those words to him, allowing Murphy to take his place beside him. Daryl looked at him, expecting him to say something, but he simply nodded his head before moving to catch up with Carl ahead of him.

He sighed as he glanced back to see where the other two were, not knowing if he wanted the man who looked so much like him to broach the subject or not. With a hand motion, he called Oscar and Connor back to the group, moving along towards yet another part of the prison.

"I think we're almost done," Connor muttered as they circled back to one of the side corridors they had passed earlier that day. "We just haven't been through that one."

As they walked through the remaining corridor, Oscar suddenly stopped and darted into one of the open cells with nothing but a laugh as a sign. "Look at this," the happiness in his voice made Daryl and Carl turn and follow him, their curiosity piqued.

"What the hell do you need slippers for?" Daryl asked, sharing a look with Carl as they both looked as Oscar bent to pick up the somewhat battered but wearable slippers from beside the old toilet bowl.

"You know, for the end of the day. For relaxing," the big man explained to Daryl as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Like what you are doing right now?" Murphy's voice was heard from outside, followed by a grunt and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. "Because really, it's such a good time to be wondering about fucking slippers."

"Must have been in the cell at the end of the corridor," Connor said as Daryl and the rest of them left the cell, Oscar with the slippers in his hands.

Daryl gave a quick look up and down to Murphy, to check if he was alright. The other man gave him a nod, rolling his eyes as soon as his attention was elsewhere. Something caught Daryl's attention as he kicked the dead walker in the side. He crouched to look closer at it, before sighing and dropping his head as he realized what it was.

"That's Carol's knife," he said softly as he moved to take the small knife from where it was stuck in the walker's neck. He grimaced when blood poured out the moment the blade slid free, cleaning it on the corpse's clothes before gripping it in his hand as he stood up.

"I think we're done here." Connor and Murphy frowned as they heard Daryl's tone of voice, his back to them. "We can start moving the bodies later." There was something in his voice that just wasn't right, but neither Oscar nor Carl seemed to notice.

"Alright," the young boy said, bouncing on his feet slightly as he turned and started making his way back, not noticing how Daryl had not moved from his place at all. Oscar did notice, only to see Connor shaking his head at him as he opened his mouth to say something.

As their steps slowed, the tension in the archer's shoulders just seemed to rise. His knuckles were white on the grip of Carol's knife, while his other hand grasped his crossbow just as hard. "Daryl?" Murphy dared to ask, taking a step to get closer to him, hand raised to touch the other man's back.

As he was about to touch him, Daryl flinched back, slashing the knife in front of him as if he was protecting himself from something, from someone. Connor was barely able to grab Murphy by the back of his coveralls to keep him from getting hurt.

"Daryl!" Connor's voice was loud, harsh, and it seemed to make the clearly spooked man react somehow. His eyes were on them, something lurking behind them neither brother could understand. "Daryl." It was softer now, his hands up as if to show him they didn't have anything at hand to hurt him.

Daryl's chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. He had forgotten where he was for a moment, all his thoughts on the fact that he had just found Carol's knife somewhere it was not supposed to be. He was lost inside his mind as he wondered how scared she must have been, how desperate, wondering if she had called out for him? If she had been in pain? He hadn't meant to, knew they were friendly, or as friendly as two other men could get. "I'm sorry," He gasped out, trying to get his breathing under control.

"Don't worry," Murphy was the one who spoke up then, giving him a smile, "it happens." He chuckled, turning slightly to look at Connor before turning to Daryl again. "I almost got shot in the head because of him once."

"Murph," Connor scolded as he saw Daryl look at them like they were crazy, "you're not helping."

"You called me _brother_ ," Daryl seemed to have calmed down, at least he was breathing normally then. "When we were at her grave." He closed his eyes as if just the idea of her grave caused him physical pain. "You called me brother."

The complete randomness of the words coming out of Daryl's mouth unsettled them, the look of confusion in both their faces making that clear as day. Daryl finally looked up at them, his eyes moving from Connor to fix on Murphy. "Is that why we look alike?"

"We don't know." The gesture in both Murphy and Daryl's faces as they turned to him as he spoke was identical, and Connor couldn't help but chuckle at that. "At least nothing other than that," he pointed at the two of them, making them turn to look at the mirror image of themselves in front of them, "and the fact that you feel right."

Daryl shook his head, scoffing, his eyes downcast again as if he couldn't handle looking at them in the eyes. "It can't be," he said under his breath, as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Daryl," Murphy moved closer to him, only to stop when he saw the other man flinch violently once again. "What else could it be?"

The redneck shrugged, his eyes still on the ground, as he bit his lip anxiously. "We don't have to talk about it." Connor threw Murphy a look as he saw his brother about to fight him over that. "We can just focus on something else."

"Like what?" Daryl's voice was rough, his chuckle completely lacking any kind of mirth. "Like the fact that Carol is dead? That her knife was here while those fuckers ate every single part of her? That the only thing of her they left was a fucking scarf?"

The words were like ice water to the three of them, the loss of the gray haired woman still aching inside each of them. "Fuck this," Daryl barked at them before turning on his heel and walking away, fury in each step he took.

"That went well."

"Fucking shut your pie hole, asshole."

.-.-.-.-

He walked back through every cleared corridor, trying to rid his head of the thoughts going through it a mile a minute. He was mad, pissed off against the world, against them, against _her_. He had been somehow surviving, as he had always been, until she came along.

He huffed and stopped, once he felt like he was far enough away from the brothers that he would be left alone. He glared at his surroundings, groaning as he saw all the bodies littered around, sneering as he kicked one near him before dropping himself by the wall and sitting down.

Daryl Dixon wasn't the type to care. He was a Dixon, he came from a long line of drunks and assholes who did not give a shit about anything, or anyone. His father, Will, had been the biggest asshole of them all. He was a bully, a drunk and a man whore. His mother, he could barely remember her sometimes, had died when he was six, Merle in juvie, and only his 'dad' and Uncle Jesse there for him. His uncle was a little less of an asshole than the old man, but he was still not a good influence for a six-year-old.

He was angry, he knew he was. He had always been angry at something or another all his life. But this moment, this specific moment he was angry because of her, angry at her. It all came down to her. If it hadn't been for her, he would have left this group a long time ago, probably since before the farm fell; he would have left them in search of his good for nothing brother. But he had stayed, because of her.

Because of her, he was here wondering about having someone who could actually give a damn about him, who could actually have his back. But she wasn't there! She was in the belly of one of those walkers, gone, and he would never get to see her again.

Carol, with her stormy blue eyes, her teasing, her bright smile and her ability to bring out the best in him. She had been the first person, probably since his ma, who had given him her trust. She would be so mad at him if she could see him now, pushing people away when it got too hard. Her words back at the farm flashed in his head, her anger as he tried to pull away, and that memory made him even angrier.

"Who the fuck did you think you were?" he snarled at the empty corridor, crossing his legs as he sat against the wall. In his right hand he still had her knife, clutched like a lifeline. "Fuck!" He slammed his head back against the wall, the pain bringing him some kind of calm. The door at the end of the corridor started trying to open once again, making noise as it hit the dead walker in front of it. He ignored it.

"I hate you!" His voice broke as he muttered those words, felt his throat tighten as if at any moment he wouldn't be able to draw more air. "Who did you think you were?" He asked the empty corridor again, as he laid his head against the wall and looked up, trying to keep the tears which had already fallen once that day at bay.

Who was she? She was his best friend, his confidant, his partner in crime. She was the only person who had taken the time to really get to know him, who had become his first friend since he could remember. She had been someone he trusted, someone he had dared to love, someone he had wondered if he could be _in love_ with, she had been _someone_ to him. _His_ someone. And that was on him. He was the one who had let her in, the one who hadn't been there for her this time.

The door from before kept on slamming, and it started to get on his already frayed nerves. BAM, the door hit the body and he slammed the knife against the concrete under him. BAM, the door banged and he drove the knife against the wall beside him. BAM, he stood up. BAM he walked towards the door and kicked it in, an angry yell leaving him as he did so. BAM, he turned to leave through where he had come from. BAM, he was sick of it. BAM he turned back, grabbed the body in front of the door and pulled it away. The door opened slowly; he walked around it, knife at the ready. There was nothing coming out of it; he pulled the door open all the way and looked down. And that was when his world shifted on its axis once again.

Pale blue eyes looked up from under barely open lids, tiredness, pain, everything was etched in that face. He fell to his knees, his hand trembling as he put it under her chin. He had to be sure, he wouldn't be able to handle it if it wasn't real, he knew that. Softly he turned her face up, her eyes fell on his, and a small smile appeared on her chapped lips. He reached out for her and as he put an arm under her legs, and another under her shoulders, for the second time that day, Daryl Dixon prayed.


	6. When the Dead Come Knocking

**Chapter VI - When the Dead Come Knocking**

The first thing Carol realized, as she tried to open her eyes, was suddenly that inconsequential things seemed a lot harder than ever. The second thing, was the feeling of extreme thirst which tried to take over every single one of her senses; the third was the fact that she was burrowed into something warm and in motion.

"We're almost there." A whisper broke the silence around her, a man's voice, to which all she could do was moan in pain as she was finally conscious enough to be overwhelmed by the feeling of a pounding headache. Bright light hit her face as she barely opened her eyes, making her groan and try to hide her face in the neck of the man carrying her, hearing as he shushed her while he continued to move silently but efficiently.

"Here," he murmured, the timbre low, but she would know that voice everywhere. Her memories were slightly fuzzy, but she knew it had been almost a day, or at least she thought so, since she had been stuck inside that place. She felt as he put her down on one of the cots, the rim of a bottle against her lips soon after. "Just some sips, easy," he cautioned. She wanted to drink the whole thing, but he took it away before she could drink more.

"Fuck, woman," he muttered, and she felt his rough hands over brush over her hair as he slowly settled her back onto the bed. The nausea, together with the headache, was making it slightly difficult for her to be completely coherent. "Thought you were dead."

She wasn't sure if he was actually saying those words because he meant for her to hear them, or because he had thought she was too far gone to actually be able to understand them. She desperately wanted to see him, see his blue eyes looking at her as only his did. Well, maybe his and Murphy's, but only his with that intensity which made her blood sing.

"Hey," she muttered as she was finally able to open her eyes.

Daryl was kneeling on the floor near her head, his gaze focused intently upon her. His hand hovered over her arm, wanting so much to touch her, but unsure of his welcome while the other rested against one of the supports for the top bunk.

"I'm like a kitten," her voice was raspy, and her throat felt ablaze because of the dehydration, "nine lives." The chuckle she got from him was everything at that moment, and it was something she would cherish for a long time inside her heart.

"Daryl." The moment his name passed her lips once again, he felt like he was going to die. Something in his chest clenched, and he couldn't breathe for a moment, the feeling not quite unlike the one he had felt the day before when he had thought he had lost her, but he didn't understand it. This time she was here, saying his name, something he had thought he had lost forever.

He made a noise to let her know he was listening; if he was honest, he doubted he could actually say anything at that moment.

"T-Dog," the pain in her voice was raw, and he ached for her. He sighed, touching the back of her hand in acknowledgment, letting her know in his own way he knew about their fallen friend. He saw her face as she grimaced and swallowed.

He was brought back to what was needed to be done, and he brought the bottle to her lips to let her have a couple more sips of water, knowing he should be out there looking for Hershel so he could examine her. But for once he was going to be a little greedy and keep her for himself ... if only for a few moments.

He was so focused on her, it wasn't until he saw her startle that he realized he could hear the sounds of shots being fired out in the yard. He tensed, but continued on his task of trying to help her as much as he could. "Go," her tired blue eyes met his, before he turned his face to look out the open door, shaking his head as he returned to his task. "They might need you there."

"Nah," he shook his head, tipping the bottle so she could drink a little more, "everyone is out there, twins are good shots."

Minutes passed in silence, only broken every handful of seconds as Daryl continued to help her drink more water. The best way he could describe what was happening was that she was like a plant, a plant without water, and he could already see changes of improvement from when he had found her not yet an hour before, and he was grateful for that.

The silence was broken suddenly, both of them moving at their own pace towards the door as they heard Rick barge into the cell block barking orders to everyone who followed him.

Daryl moved towards the door, putting an arm back towards her , motioning for her to remain where she was on the bunk. He'd seen, from the corner of his eye how she was trying to move to join him. He shook his head as he slowly exited her cell, frowning as he was greeted with the sight of a stranger when he reached the common area.

"Rick?" Daryl asked as he approached most of their group.

Rick had a black woman in dreadlocks in a hold against the ground. He could feel, more than actually see, the other two men looking at him, but after what had happened in the tombs, he just couldn't look at them. "Who the hell is this?"

"She was outside," Murphy answered, always the one who couldn't remain quiet. "She had a basket with things for Little Asskicker with her." He had walked towards the man who bore the same face as him without even noticing, stopping suddenly when Daryl took a step away from him, without having actually even acknowledged the fact that he had talked to him.

"Wanna tell us your name?" Rick asked once again of the woman on the ground under him, her dark eyes darting wildly around the room as if trying to find a way out.

Daryl noticed that, as well as he noticed some kind of unhinged look in Rick's eyes, something which had been there since the day before. It seemed like he wasn't the only one who felt concerned about the change in their leader, watching both brothers shift on their feet as Rick suddenly stood up.

"Everything all right?" His eyes were still on the woman, but his words were directed to Daryl.

Daryl shifted from one foot to the other, "You'll want to see this," he muttered, taking a step further inside the cell block as Connor had now joined Murphy in standing closer to him than everyone else.

"She doesn't come into the cell block," Rick said to everyone as they all started to shuffle towards it. "Carl, get the basket."

Daryl stood his ground as he waited until everyone entered the block behind him. He shifted once again as the brothers walked pass him, not sure if he wanted to stay away from them or just move closer. He watched silently as Rick talked to the woman, swallowing as he finally recognized what he had been seeing in her eyes; she was scared to death, it was a look he had seen in the mirror more than once in his lifetime. He kept his eyes on her as Rick moved back towards him, letting him go through before moving and closing the steel door behind him. There was just something which urged him to trust her, and if he had learned anything in the last few months, it was that he had good instincts for this kind of thing.

His head went immediately to what his gut had been telling him about the McManus brothers, but this time, he chose to just push those thoughts back into the deepest parts of his mind. He shook his head as he moved ahead of the group, passing by and avoiding even touching Connor. He just had other things to consider instead of him at the moment. Rick fell into step beside him as he moved further into the back of the block. "What is it?" The former officer asked him, but Daryl only shook his head as he motioned to the open cell under the stairs.

All he could focus on was the mischievous small smile Carol gave Rick the moment the younger man first saw her. Her blue eyes were filled with mirth, like she found it way too funny that they had thought her dead, that it had all been a joke. The apprehension which had taken over his chest started to dissipate as he watched her stand up shakily so Rick could pull her into his arms. A small smile appeared on his face as he saw her standing on her own two feet once again. "Holy Mary Mother of God," he heard from slightly behind him as both brothers arrived with the rest of the group to see as the other two embraced.

He dared to look at them at their words. Their eyes, were not on him for once, both entirely mesmerized by the picture in front of them, and somehow he understood what they were feeling. As much as he didn't want to deal with them, he had to acknowledge the fact that they had also mourned her.

As she finally let go of Rick and moved to hug the next person, Hershel, he looked back to their leader, finding a little of the old Rick back in his eyes. "She fought her way into one of the cells, found her almost passed out, dehydrated." The cries of the baby pulled her out of her embrace with Hershel, her eyes looking from the baby to a smiling Beth who was holding her, but then back to the grieving eyes of a widower.

She found her answer in those eyes, and the few tears she could manage in her actual state made their way down her cheeks. Her hand went to Rick's neck, bringing his head down to kiss his forehead as she tried to console her friend, to console the husband of one of her best friends.

No one noticed how Carl was shifting uncomfortably on the fringes of the little reunion. No one but Murphy. The older man said nothing to the boy, but his presence behind him and a hand on his shoulder brought more comfort for the now motherless boy, than his own father had given him in the last twenty four hours.

Carol moved from Rick to Beth and the baby. The pain in her heart almost rivaled the hope the little baby in front of her brought them all. Beth was teary eyed, and started babbling as soon as she approached. "You can hold her if you want to," she said softly, as she made the motion to pass the baby to her.

"She needs to rest right now, Bethie," Hershel said, noticing how the three men outside the cell had all moved slightly forward as a precaution. "She needs to drink more water, eat something and sleep, she can visit with the little one later."

Carol nodded, touching the baby's blanket softly as Hershel pushed Beth gently back towards their own cell, where the made up crib was stationed at the moment. Carl said nothing as he approached Carol, silently putting his arms around her and hugging her tightly. Carol seemed to know something had happened by instinct, her arms moving to answer the hug just as tightly. And just as he came, he was gone, silently moving towards the front of the block where he could keep an eye on their newest visitor. Carol noticed how neither father nor son made eye contact with each other, and that worried her.

Daryl shook his head as she turned to look at him, to which she gave him a sad smile in return. They would have to go through what had happened later, they had to, but not right then. Rick patted her shoulder as he moved out of the cell, following his son's footsteps. She watched him go with sorrow in her heart, sending a prayer for her friend's soul as she did so.

A soft caress on her arm brought her back to the present, and the smile she gave in return to Murphy, when she finally looked at him, was as real as it could be. Daryl, meanwhile, tried to tamp down the jealousy he knew he was feeling as he saw, first Murphy and then Connor, draw her into their arms for a soft hug. It was not only jealousy over the fact that she cared for these two men enough to allow them to hug her, but it was also the way both men, as hardened as they were because of their previous history, could still be soft enough to hug her with such tenderness.

"A true God given miracle," Connor said softly as he pulled back enough to look down into her blue eyes, his hand caressing her cheek. Carol in turn, couldn't do anything but smile back, sighing as the Irishman moved to plant a soft kiss over her forehead. Daryl couldn't help but huff and roll his eyes as the words reached his ears, making Carol laugh as she pulled back and slowly swatted his arm.

Murphy looked from his brother, to Carol, to Daryl, and grinned. There was just something which felt so right about that moment, that he just couldn't put into words. He made eye contact with Daryl for the first time since they had left him earlier that day, and the other man broke the contact as soon as it had happened. "Come on, love, doctor's orders," Connor said softly as he slightly pushed her back into the cell, towards the cot.

"Food," was all that Daryl muttered before turning on his heel and leaving the brothers with Carol, trying not to stomp away in frustration. It wasn't that he hated them, not really, but they were something he didn't want to think about. Their presence made his head spin, and his head couldn't handle any more feelings that day other than the fact that she was there, she was back. He did somewhat stomp his way up to his perch, on a mission to get back to Carol as soon as possible, with the package of cookies he knew she liked which he had hidden among his things.

"Daryl," His head snapped towards where Rick was standing, together with Hershel as the former police officer motioned towards where their newest visitor was still waiting for them. He nodded, sighing as he stood up with his back to them, trying to put on his game face once again. He threw the cookie package at Murphy as he walked down the stairs, nodding to the youngest McManus as if that sealed some kind of pact between them.

And with that he put his heart to the side, and followed Rick and Hershel back outside the cell block.

.-.-.-.-

"Where did he even get this?" Murphy asked smiling as he walked back into the cell Carol was once again lying down on. Connor was sitting on the cot, his back against the wall, while he had Carol's head resting on his thighs, letting her use them as a pillow. "That looks cozy," Murphy teased her as he sat down on the overturned bucket Daryl had been using as a stool while he had been there.

"Dixon sent you this." Both brother's chuckled as they saw her eyes almost sparkle the moment she glimpsed the chocolate cookies Murphy held in his hands. The brother's chatted lightly as Carol munched away on some of the cookies from the package, only to stop whenever one of the brothers passed her one of the water bottles Daryl had left there earlier. Her eyes started drooping after her fourth cookie, and the brothers stopped preventing her from falling asleep after she had finished the second water bottle.

It hadn't been more than ten minutes since she had fallen asleep when Daryl's stomping could be heard making its way towards the cell. Connor moved his hands which somehow had ended up caressing one of her stray gray strands of hair, to her shoulder, moving her lightly so she would start to wake before the angry redneck made her jump as he loudly made his way inside the cell.

"What's wrong?" Her body tensed immediately, as if reacting to Daryl's own body language.

"Someone took Glenn and Maggie," Daryl growled, his eyes going from Carol, to Connor, to Murphy, and back towards the opposite wall; as if he couldn't even bare to let his eyes stay still.

"What are we doing about it?" Her words made Daryl finally focus only on her, noticing how her eyes looked less sunken and how she looked more awake.

"We?" he scoffed, shaking his head as he moved closer to her, dropping into a crouch besides her feet, patting her boot as if making sure she was really there and it wasn't just his imagination. "You are staying here, and getting some rest." He motioned towards the two men with his chin. "We're meeting the others to see what we decide."

"I don't need sleep," Carol muttered, giving Murphy a small smile as he jumped in to help her up as soon as she tried to sit up.

"You were nearly unconscious when I found you." Daryl searched Connor's and then Murphy's eyes to try and find some kind of support to try and talk her into resting at least for a bit. "You are starving and dehydrated."

"I'm feeling better now." She tried not to feel weird at the loss of Daryl's touch on her foot as she moved to put them on the floor. "I'll at least join the meeting. It's not like I would be any help if I go."

"Carol ..." Her attention moved from Daryl to Connor, looking at him to where he had moved to sit shoulder to shoulder with her. "Daryl's right, you need to rest."

"And I will." Her eyes moved from Connor, to Murphy, until they rested on Daryl once again. "But right now, I'm going to join you and you will let me."

Her eyes didn't leave Daryl's as she tried to show him, at least this way, that she might be hurt, but not broken. She needed this, unwilling to lay back while they decided whatever was about to happen with their family. She could see how Daryl's eyes softened, just before he gave her a small smile and nodded at her.

"Ain't no kitten, a lioness." The smile Daryl got as answer to their previous conversation was blinding, and he stiffened to try not to allow his to broaden even more. He could not forget the other two men were there with them, but at the moment he wanted to.

Carol grunted as she pushed the twins' hands away when they tried to help her as she got to her feet. Grinning even more at Daryl as she was able to with just a little swaying. The archer just shook his head as he watched her walk past him, leaving the three men looking at her in awe as she left the cell. That woman was just something else.

This time around, the moment Beth offered her the baby, after sitting herself on the steps of the metal staircase just in case, she received the precious bundle with a smile on her face. She heard as everyone around her started to talk about what they were going to do, but she couldn't help but block them out as she looked down at the newborn in her arms. Little Asskicker, she chuckled softly at the name she had been told Daryl had given to the baby, was on the small side. Sophia had been a big baby, long and heavy, and she couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart at the thought of her baby girl.

Her attention was brought back as she heard Daryl declare he was going to get them back. Not that it was something which surprised her, she knew he was probably the first one in line to go and get the rest of their family back. Her smile turned bittersweet when Beth proclaimed her intentions of joining them, quickly followed by the rest of the group, inmates included.

"No," Rick said, his voice strong as he tried to convey the message of being in charge. He looked at the people surrounding them, throwing a look at Carol in the back holding his daughter in her arms. "We can't leave Hershel, Carol and Carl alone in here."

"Also," Daryl's quiet yet rough voice continued from where Rick had left of, looking at everyone around the circle, "this is no mission for rookies, we need people who know how to handle themselves in case we need them to."

"But she's my sister," Beth's said, frustration lacing her tone as she took a step closer to where Daryl was standing. Carol noticed how Daryl stiffened at her confrontational tone, and she wasn't the only one.

"She might be, lass," Connor said as he moved slightly to get Beth's attention, happy when her gaze shifted onto him and away from Daryl. "But that doesn't mean you know shit about shooting a gun." The glare he got from the teenager as a result of his comment did nothing to him, but he knew that it would have made Daryl uncomfortable.

"They're right, Beth." Carol's calm voice made the girl stop glaring at Connor, and turn to look at her. "We need them at their best. If we go, we'll just slow them down."

It was a testament to how much she'd matured when she didn't stomp out of the meeting in a huff. Instead she nodded in acceptance, but not before throwing one last hate filled look at the oldest of the MacManus.

"You're not going either," Axel nodded as Rick ordered him, relieved he wouldn't really be needed.

"Neither are you." The moment those words passed his lips, his statement directed at the MacManus brothers, all hell broke loose.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Murphy, always more hot headed than his brother, immediately jumped in. "There's no fucking way you're leaving us out of this shit." Daryl took a step in between Rick and Murphy, pushing his shoulder against the man wearing his face. "No fucking way."

Connor sighed softly as he moved to hold back his brother, pulling him back while pushing Daryl away at the same time. "If he's going," he was talking to Rick, but looking at Daryl, "we're going."

"I need you to stay here," Rick's words made the three men stop staring at each other and turn to glare at the former officer. Carol tried to keep herself from smiling at the slightly startled look on Rick's face at the synchronicity of the movement between them.

"We need to be stealthy. We don't know in what state we're going to find them, so we need to be fast. We need to take the Tucson, but we can't all fit in." He eyed the brothers as they seemed to start to deflate at his carefully chosen words. "I'm going, Daryl, and we're taking her with us." They all knew who 'she' was. "That leaves place for one more, since we're bringing back two people."

"I'll go," Connor said, as he patted Murphy on the chest as he said the words. "Murph will stay to hold down the fort."

"Con," Murphy's voice was barely above a whisper, as he protested at the thought of having his twin leave his sight.

"No," Oscar's deep voice broke the silence which followed. "I'll go ... have them stay here to keep everyone else safe. I'm good with a gun too."

"It's settled then," Rick said with finality, shooting the twins a look when Connor opened his mouth to protest. "We leave as soon as we get everything prepared. Let's move people."

Carol smiled at Beth as the girl went over to her and took the baby from her arms under the pretense of almost being time for her to be fed, even if Carol knew it was more of a comfort thing to her so she could go and lick her wounds in private over not being allowed to go with the rest of the group. Her eyes moved to follow Daryl as he moved to follow Rick, not saying a word to anyone as if nothing of importance had happened just moments before, as if he hadn't had two people fighting over the right to be able to go and cover his back.

"Do you want to go back to the cell?" Connor asked as he moved to stand in front of her, his hand out waiting for hers so he could help her stand up.

"He'll come around," she said as she let him help her, her free hand reaching to pat Murphy on his arm as they started walking. "He's just not used to being looked after." The sad smile Connor gave her broke her heart a little bit. The three of them walked past the cell where Daryl had put her earlier that day, continuing towards the path which would take them outside to see the rest of their group go off on their rescue mission.

At Rick's signal, and with a pat on her shoulder, the brothers moved to help with the preparations for the trip. She accepted the baby back when Beth gave it to her, as she too was recruited to help as well.

A few minutes later after she saw as Daryl close the trunk of the small green car, she felt her throat begin to close up. There was a feeling in her gut, and it just wouldn't leave her alone. She felt some relief as Connor and Murphy once again gravitated to her side, chuckling lightly as Murphy started to coo at the rather attentive newborn in her arms.

A soft touch at her elbow made her look up from the baby's face, only to stare directly into the intense blue eyes of her best friend. "Stay safe," he murmured as he looked at her, biting his lip slightly before turning to look away, but not moving from her side.

"Nine lives, remember?" was her answer, which seemed to satisfy him since with another soft squeeze to her elbow, and without even giving the men beside her any of his attention, he made his way to the passenger side of the small green Tucson.

-.-.-.

The silence inside the cell block, once they came back in, was unsettling. Carol bounced the baby up and down as she walked, trying to keep her calm since she had started fussing the moment the car had left the prison.

"Babies are good at feeding from our emotions," she said softly to Carl as the boy looked anxiously at the bundle of his baby sister. "You're just feeling a little worried over everyone, aren't you, Lil Asskicker?"

"Judith." Carol looked up as Carl said the baby's name for the first time. "Her name is going to be Judith."

"Judith," she repeated smiling down at the now sleeping baby, "it fits her."

.-.-.

Daryl tried not to think too much of what, or better yet, whom he had left back at the prison as they made their way to Woodbury in the small car. Silence reigned as Rick pushed the Hyundai to its extremes, trying to get to the town Michonne had told them about as fast as possible. Who knew what they would find once they got there.

As much as Daryl felt an obligation to come and be part of the rescue mission for two of their own, there was also the part of him trying to get away from certain people who had been left behind. He had been happy when Rick refused to let the twins join them. The last thing he needed was to be distracted by the fact that he had no idea how in the world they were related to each other, and the apparent decision those two had made of actually trying to do something about it.

And also Carol. The feelings that woman caused in him, the pain in his chest which had been constant since the moment he thought he had lost her for good was now filled with a different kind of pain. And he couldn't put into words what it was; he didn't want to. Nothing good ever happened to a Dixon, and for him, it was enough to have her back. There was nothing else he needed in his life but for her to be in it.

So it was better that he was away for a while, it would give him time as well as a chance to let go of all the pent up energy warring within him. Just as it gave him some peace of mind to know they had left two really capable people other than Carol behind to look after everyone, it had been a good decision.

When Rick stopped a few minutes later, Daryl took a deep breath before opening the passenger door, shoving his feelings and thoughts away for the time being; they had two family members to bring back home. Things would either resolve themselves later on, or they wouldn't … but right then it was time to kick some ass and get Glenn and Maggie back.

Chapter VII - Made To Suffer

"You need to get back into that bed, love, and get some sleep for God's sake," Murphy muttered as he watched Carol move around trying to put something together for them to eat as dinner while the rest of the group littered around doing nothing.

"I can do this, Murph." The way the nickname flowed from her lips made the youngest McManus smile softly. "I'm alright."

"You almost passed out not too long ago." Carol shook her head as Connor butted in, his voice softer and more placating than his brother's.

"I'm good," she insisted, and finally stopped, turning to look at where both brothers were standing a few feet behind her, as if standing guard. "It was just a little over a day, I'm still a little thirsty, but I promise you, I'm drinking plenty of water and I'm making food so I can eat something too."

"From what we've been told, you looked worse for wear, love." The worry behind their words, as well as the way both of them were looking at her made her eyes sting with unshed tears. How could these two men, who up till a little over a week ago had been complete strangers to her, come to care so much for her in so little time? Because that's what it was, they cared and for someone who before this whole thing had started had no one other than her daughter, it was something special.

"I have claustrophobia," she took a deep breath as she continued her explanation. "It was dark, and it was small." Connor was not surprised at all when his brother left his side to grab Carol's hand in a show of support, Murphy had always been the more emotional out of the two.

"I think I hyperventilated while in there, passed out." She grimaced as she tried not to let the emotions of the last twenty-four hours get a hold of her. "I can just remember bits and pieces, and I wasn't completely there when Daryl found me."

Murphy said nothing, but simply pulled her by the hand until she was snuggled up in his arms. He closed his eyes contentedly as he felt her return the embrace. Connor just smiled as he looked at them, taking the other hand Carol was offering him and squeezing it tenderly.

"Alright." With a sigh Carol pushed Murphy away with her free hand, dropping Connor's hand as she did so. "We need to decide who's going to be on guard, and after what happened yesterday, I think it might be better if we do it during the day too."

.-.-.-

Night had fallen upon them, and after that brief encounter with the crazy ass person in the hut, Daryl felt as if all the nerves and energy he had been able to maintain under control so far were about to explode.

The place, Woodbury, seemed to be everything Michonne had told them it was. There were walls, and people on watch, but the woman was confident she could get them in; and they would have to trust her.

"Dammit," Rick muttered, Daryl looked as the black woman disregarded Rick's orders and took off into the night. Daryl sighed as he looked once again to the people guarding the walls, feeling a pang of regret not having the twins there with them. Those two fuckers were pretty good shots.

"There's no way we're going to be able to search all the buildings." The three men had moved back, away from the light which could easily expose them. "We need to downsize," Rick said in a low voice, as Daryl kept trying to count the amount of people waiting for them on top of the wall.

"There's no way we can take them all," Oscar had started to speak, when a sound was heard from behind them, making the three of them jump to attention, bringing their guns up.

Daryl glared as Michonne looked at them, slightly rolling her eyes at their panicked response. With signs, she motioned them to follow her, and at Rick's muttered words, they did.

He couldn't help but scoff as they arrived at their destination. As much as this place seemed secure, there were some really obvious breaches in their security. Daryl grunted as he followed Rick through the opening of the door which had been boarded up once, looking around as they made their way into what seemed to be a pantry.

The environment of the place, as he moved across and towards the front, gave him weird feelings. The people just walking around as if they didn't have any concerns in the street, the plants of corn growing there ... it just felt wrong.

They were still arguing about where to start the search when a man walked in on them. One of the residents just happened to enter the storage room, not having any idea of what was waiting for him inside. It was only the group's quick thinking which allowed them to be able to silence him before it was too late. And Daryl couldn't help but think about what Carol had once told him, about being Rick's henchman. Her blatant disapproval ticked through his mind as he knocked the man unconscious.

That was the last thought Daryl allowed himself about her for the time being. They had more important things to deal with than his melancholy musings. They still needed to find Maggie and Glenn.

-.-.-

Carol had lied. It might not have been an outright lie when she told the twins she didn't completely remember her time in the small cell down there in the tombs, because she had passed out more than once because of a panic attack, but she was a lot more fatigued than she was trying to let on.

Hershel had seemed to catch on to her lie, and she wasn't surprised he had done so. The brothers, as sweet as they were to her, didn't know her that well, and with a smile and a half assed promise, she had been able to send them away to work on what needed to be done. Hershel had just shaken his head, a small smile on his face, as he followed the two brothers outside for one last quick check on the perimeter.

It was the reason why Carol had been left alone with the two teenagers, the baby and Axel. That and the fact that the three men had somewhat told her in their own words to get some more rest.

"You're really good with her," Carol heard Axel's voice as she walked towards what once had been hers and Lori's cell. She frowned as she realized that the only people there, other than her, were Carl and Beth… and that didn't seem to be directed at Carl.

Her footsteps were silent as she approached the cell where Daryl had put her earlier that day, frowning as she heard Axel's voice once again after what seemed like enough time for him to get an answer from Beth. "Did you have any younger siblings?"

There was something in his tone that just didn't sit well with her, and the moment she looked into the cell she knew what was it. Carl was standing to the side, his body tense but in a way that made Carol think he didn't even know the reason why ... but she knew. "No," Beth's sweet voice answered the older man, and Carol glared at him from where she was standing at the door.

"How old are you anyway?" A smile threatened to appear on her face as she saw Carl cross his arms and glare at the older man at his question. The boy was full of anger, and he was not stupid, he knew something was not quite right about all this.

"Seventeen." Beth was too innocent sometimes. This was a man, preying on a child, and maybe she couldn't do much to protect these children from whatever was out there, but she would surely protect them from what was in there with them.

"Seventeen, interesting." Carol tried not to gag as she saw the way Axel leered at Beth. There was no reason, ever, for a grown man to be looking at a child like that.

"May I speak with you?" She tried to keep her tone light, tried to uncoil the tension in her body so Beth wouldn't catch onto what was going on. She saw, from the side of her eye as Carl's eyes followed her every movement, and she gave him a quick look and a smile before turning her glare back on Axel. The boy didn't need any more troubles weighing down his young soul. What had happened was enough.

"Me?" Axel threw a nervous look around, finally noticing both Carol's and Carl's glares. The terse nod he got from Carol was enough to get him on his feet, gulping down as he saw the older woman leave the cell. "I'll be right back," he muttered to Beth as he followed Carol out, not seeing that the moment he left the room, Carl moved to sit on his spot beside Beth.

Carol closed her fist as she walked further away from the cell and towards the back of the block. She knew the kids were still within hearing distance, but she hoped they wouldn't pry. Her hands were sweaty, and shaking slightly, but she tried to not let that show as she turned once she reached the staircase.

"What's the problem?" Axel was smiling as he reached her, and the need to slap that look from his face was just below the surface.

"Stay away from her," her voice was harsh and unforgiving, and it made the blonde man frown and take a small step away from her. He scoffed, turning to the side as to throw a glance to the cell where the girl was, opening his arms as if he was claiming innocence.

"Please." She was sure if she hadn't been glaring at him, he would have laughed at her. "Don't even think about trying to repopulate the earth." There was more than a promise in her eyes, and he wasn't as stupid as to not be able to see it.

"I didn't mean no offense." Carol shot him a look of contempt, having a fair clue as to where this was going. "I've been locked up for a long time, and there were no women, do you follow me?" He was grasping at straws; she could see that. "Maggie, she's with Glenn; and you're a lesbian,"

Her laugh couldn't be contained, shaking her head as she surprised even herself. "I'm not a lesbian." She stopped herself from elaborating as it had appeared in her mind. The dirty old man didn't need any ideas, nor did she really want to think about them like that.

"But you have the short hair?" He made a motion with his hand as if to emphasize his point, and she couldn't help but laugh and shake her head at him. "You're not a lesbian?" There was surprise evident in his voice, and again she had to stop herself from explaining to him explicitly how much of a lesbian she was not . "My, my, that makes this interesting …" She saw how he changed in front of her eyes, the look of lust which appeared while he tried to play it cool as he leaned over the banister to give her a slimy smile.

"No, it's not." She shuddered as she moved past him, feeling his eyes on her backside as she walked away. She might have appeared unmoved by him; women always needed to do so to stop creeps like Axel from trying anything, but the way he had looked at her made her skin ache with disgust.

"Hey ..." She was walking back towards the door, eyes down, when Connor's greeting brought her out of her reverie. She saw how he frowned as soon as she raised her eyes to his, that man was just as observant as Daryl; but it was even worse because he was definitely more attuned to emotions than her best friend. "He bothering you?" Connor asked as he threw a glare at Axel over her shoulder, smirking when he saw the blonde man jump slightly as he finally raised his eyes from Carol's ass.

"I can take care of myself." The tone of her voice, together with the way she crossed her arms in front of her, made him stop for a moment to really look at her. She not only looked tired, but also defeated in a way.

"I know." She couldn't look at him as she felt him touch her arm softly, cupping her elbow and pulling her closer to him. "I'm not saying you can't, I just know him and he's a sniveling little arsehole."

Her chuckle seemed to calm something within him, as did her blue eyes as she'd looked up at him before. There was the usual sadness behind them, but they definitely looked lighter than a couple of hours before. "I found him sniffing around Beth."

"Motherfucker," his muttered curse just made her laugh, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud of that fact.

"I already warned him off," she rolled her eyes, huffing as she saw the blonde man still staring at them from afar. "But I don't trust him."

"And you shouldn't."

"I don't want him to sleep here tonight," she sighed, raising a hand and rubbing her forehead. The outside door opened, allowing Hershel passage inside once again.

They shared a look, understanding the topic needed to be dropped, the older man's health was not optimal, and having him try and handle the blonde man together with everything else, she knew no good could come of it. "Your brother said he'll stay there until midnight, that you should take over after."

"Axel and I will take over." Hershel raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Carol at her words. The blonde man had not been silent when he, more than once, mentioned how bad of a shot he really was. If he had ever actually fired a gun before in his life.

"Carol," Connor muttered softly, frowning as he looked down at her. "You need rest."

"And he needs to learn how to shoot," she snapped, and the stubbornness in her eyes made the corner of his mouth start to rise slightly. What a woman!

"But _you_ need to sleep."

"I'll sleep there," Hershel gave her a suspicious look, before turning and leaving the two of them to figure out the rest.

"I'm not leaving you alone asleep with him," Connor hissed, getting closer to Carol as they both watched Hershel hop away.

"You are not letting me do anything, Connor MacManus."

The tone of her voice let him know a lot of things, and to be honest, he enjoyed every single one of them. The grin Carol got as an answer to her words, was definitely not what she had been expecting.

"Alright," he nodded, still grinning as he looked back at where the blond man was looking inside the cell where the children were. "But if he gropes you in your sleep, it's on you."

Her chuckle at the sound he made as she buried her elbow in his side, made Hershel smile and shake his head. It was good to have her back from the dead.

.-.-.

The moment the smoke filled the room as they fought their way to their friends, Daryl's gut gave a somersault. There was something wrong with the scene, something which did not feel quite right. The surprise factor the smoke grenade gave them allowed them to leave unharmed, without having to actually kill anyone, as the people in Woodbury tried to recover and shoot at their retreating backs.

They made their way through the shadows, him as one of the best shots as well as one of the most observant, keeping watch as Maggie and Oscar practically had to carry Glenn between them. The Korean man looked worse for wear, the damage done to him was extensive and for some reason, - as he gave him a quick look over as they stopped inside an empty house - somewhat familiar.

Daryl continued to run on point at the front of his group back to the house, adrenaline pumping rapidly through his veins making him edgy. He offered to go out to look for Michonne, not liking one bit the idea of leaving her behind as Rick said the words; he didn't leave people behind, never.

"Daryl," Glenn's pain filled grunt made him focus on the younger man, "it was Merle." He could see as the Korean kept on talking, but there was just something inside of him which couldn't exactly process what came after his initial words. Merle? His brother? Was alive and there in Woodbury? It was just something he was unable to process with all the blood and adrenaline rushing through his system at the time.

He looked on as Maggie helped Glenn get dressed, his face blank as he tried to understand what was coming out of the man's mouth. "My brother is the Governor?" There was incredulity in his voice. Merle wasn't stupid, but he had no self-control … especially not to be able to get something like Woodbury off the ground. He would have fucked and drank it all before nightfall if he was in charge.

"He's not, it's somebody else." The hate in Maggie's voice didn't even register. Daryl couldn't get past the fact that Merle was alive, his family was still alive. "He's his lieutenant or something."

"Does he know I'm still with you?" There was a part of Daryl that would never stop looking up to his older brother. He would be eighty, and the feeling that Merle would be there if something happened to him would still linger; even if Merle had stopped being there for him before his age was in double digits.

"He does now." The pressure he had felt the day before in his chest was back, and he couldn't focus. He had to move towards the back of the house as everyone around him tried to regroup. Now was not the time to have a panic attack. This time there was no Connor or Murphy, or even Carol, to help him with it, and the longing he felt inside for them somewhat rivaled the one he felt for Merle, and that scared the shit out of him. But he needed his brother, now.

He watched as Rick helped Maggie pull Glenn to his feet, and he knew his time was up. "If Merle's around, I..." The pressure in his chest felt like bursting, and he hated that he was always easily brought to tears when it came to this shit. "I need to see him."

"Not right now." Rick's face was almost in front of his, the harsh edge in his voice wasn't something he expected. "We're in enemy territory."

Daryl shook his head slightly, his face confused and sad as he tried to understand the situation. "He's my brother, I ain't…"

"Look what he's done." The tone and the way Rick threateningly took a step forward made Daryl start shaking slightly as he retreated a step back. "We've got to get out of here; we've got to go, NOW!"

Daryl shook his head; this was his brother they were talking about. "But I got to talk to him, I could work something out…" His voice was pleading with the former officer, his heart breaking at the thought of leaving his brother behind yet again.

"No, no, no, no!" Daryl took a step back, flinching when he noticed Rick had raised a hand to touch his arm. "You're not thinking straight." Daryl tried to take a breath, to try and get the feeling inside his chest to lessen a little bit as Rick turned to look at Maggie and Glenn over his shoulder. "No matter what they say, they are hurt and we need to get them out of here and back to the prison."

He could see as Rick continued talking, as he moved his lips to say things to him, but his brain wouldn't accept it. Merle was alive. "I need you," Rick's words made sense, but there was just something not right. Why? Why couldn't he try and see his brother?

He heard himself accepting, he saw as the rest of his 'family' prepared to leave. But his mind was not there. It was back on an Atlanta rooftop with the man he thought he would never see again.

Once again the smoke grenades were the perfect cover for the escape mission. The moment they covered enough, they took off towards where the buses were, the 'front doors' of Woodbury. Daryl was back on point, trying to keep his mind in the game, but not being able to completely shut it down.

He gave the other guys cover, but at the same time he tried to not shoot at people. Any one of them could be his brother after all. They made their way across the street, people shooting at them from all over, they were way outmanned.

"How many did you see?" Someone asked him as he started taking things from the bag he had been carrying, passing around more guns and magazines.

"No matter, we need to get out of here." He was focused on getting his people out, but he needed to see his brother. If he didn't get out, well, he truly didn't think it would be that big of a deal.

"Any grenades left?" At Rick's question, he pulled out the few they had left, giving him a grunt in acknowledgment. "We need to make our way to the buses."

The fight continued around them while Daryl pulled even more things out of the bag. It was then he made his decision: he would get everyone out, but he needed to talk to his brother. To hell with what Rick Grimes said, he just hoped if something happened, the three people back at the prison would not kill him for his decision.

"Go ahead." He passed out more weapons to those around him, "I'll lay down some cover fire."

"We got to stay together," someone said, the pang in his chest worsening. The thought that the words yelled by Maggie could have easily have been said by a certain other woman was playing games with his head.

"Too dangerous, I'll be right behind you." He had barely given out the last of his weapons when he pulled a grenade and threw it down the street. "Ready?" He didn't wait for the answer, he tossed the smoke grenade and moved forward with his automatic rifle, crouching down by a bench and opening fire.

He felt and heard as the rest of his group made their way towards the buses, but he stayed on point. He continued to shoot, trying not to feel anything as people dropped dead from his bullets. Daryl tried not to think at the possibility that he might have been shooting at his own flesh and blood.

He heard yelling behind him, from Maggie calling out for Rick, and then from the man himself calling out for him. He couldn't leave his brother behind this time. No ... he wouldn't leave his brother behind. "Go!" He yelled back, continuing to shoot as his chosen family escaped over the buses.

.-.-.-

Carol yawned once again as she rested her weight against the banister in front of her, her legs dangling as she kicked them back and forth. Axel had finally shut up a few minutes before, his unending babble and lewd looks he shot her had been getting on her nerves more than they usually would have. And she knew the reason for that.

The look Murphy had shot her as she and Axel had arrived to take over the watch, had a lot more behind it than she felt like deciphering right then. So with a small smile, and a push at his back, the Irishman had left the two of them alone. She knew they would eventually be back. She knew those two, knew they wouldn't leave her out there with the blonde horndog on her own for long, but she appreciated it anyway.

She shivered as the humid summer night wind ruffled her open jacket. The weather was something she had always liked about Georgia, and she had severely missed it while they were living up north. The hot days with the cool nights brought memories from her childhood, as did the smell of the ground after a storm, took her back to a better time, when her parents were alive, and before she had her heart broken by someone who was supposed to love her more than his own life.

She mentally shook herself as she continued to look onto the chain fences, watching as a couple of walkers passed them by. Her thoughts were not a good place to spend time, especially not at that moment. She couldn't believe it had been less than twenty-four hours since she had been almost sure she was going to die inside that tiny dark cell; since the walls had started to come down on her, and her mind began to shut down.

Now? Now she was back out there, worrying about her family, worrying about Daryl as he went to try and bring back the rest of their people back. She felt a pang in her chest, as if someone was squeezing her heart at the thought of him being out there with no one covering his back; because she knew him, and she knew he would be taking all the risks needed to get their people home safely.

Carol jumped as she heard the door behind them slam closed, turning fast, her gun coming up only to find herself pointing it right at Connor's chest. The younger man grinned at her, keeping his hands up. "I come in peace."

Carol chuckled, rolling her eyes as she turned back to keep watch. "Much use, this arsehole is," she heard Connor mutter behind her as she looked over her shoulder. He kicked Axel's boot in passing, rolling his eyes when the blond man only muttered before continuing to asleep. "You are the one who's supposed to be getting some sleep," he said, groaning as he moved to sit beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

"I had not even noticed he had fallen asleep." She threw him a small smile, both pretending not to look at each other as they kept their eyes on the lookout. "I was just grateful he was finally quiet."

Connor shook his head, chuckling. "You have no idea how many times we ended up knocking him out just so he would shut up."

Carol did not even try to hide her laughter at that, and Connor couldn't help but feel elated at the fact that he had been able to make her react like that. Slowly, he moved so he could loop an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. "I'm glad to be able to hear your laugh again," he muttered as he pressed his mouth to the crown of her head, keeping her close to him ... as close as she allowed him.

There were no words Carol could speak which could explain what she felt at his words, so she didn't even try. She just sighed and let herself be pulled into his somewhat protective embrace. There was just something about these two men which made her feel completely at ease around them, an ease she hadn't found in anyone else but Daryl, ever.

"Are you ever going to try and get some sleep?" his words were quiet a few minutes later as he felt her yawn once again.

"I'm afraid," she breathed quietly before she realized what she was saying. Connor felt her tense in his arms, biting his tongue to keep himself from interrupting her.

"Hey," he said softly, using the arm he had around her shoulders to move her so he could look down into her eyes. "I'm not going to say there's nothing to be afraid of," he gave her a sad smile, "but I can stay with you, if you think it might help?"

He saw the moment her exhaustion won over her fears as she nodded and scooted over so she could lay down right there on the floor beside him. He chuckled when without having to say anything she laid her head on his thigh. He moved the rifle she had been holding ready to his other side, using his right hand to run it soothingly through her short hair. As he watched her eyes close , he started to softly recite some of the prayers his mam had used when they had been young and night terrors had haunted them, hoping they could help her as much as they had done for them in their youth. She deserved peace at least in her dreams.

.-.-.-

Murphy tried to fall into slumber as soon as he had been relieved from watch duty by Carol. But between his brother stomping his way around their cell, together with a crying baby, two teenagers and an old man in crutches; that had almost been impossible to do.

He saw as Connor left their cell, hearing as the metal door that separated the cell block and the outside slammed behind him. He just knew he was on his way to try and allow Carol to get some sleep, that woman was infuriatingly stubborn sometimes.

His eyes closed, he began to feel himself dozing off. He was not yet that far into sleep that he didn't hear the sounds around him, but he was just that far off that he didn't understand what they were talking about. The next thing he knew, Carl was barging into his cell yelling at him that they needed to go.

"Where are we going, lad?" he asked as he yawned, following the boy as he took the gun he had taken from Daryl's things from under the bed as well as his knife.

"We heard some screaming from the tombs," the boy answered as he gave a solemn nod to Hershel before opening the cell block door, letting Murphy go through before closing it behind them.

"Carol?" The older man tensed at the simple thought of her being back there, after what had happened the day before.

"No, she's still at the tower, she didn't come back after Connor joined them." The two continued their way into the entrails of the prison, keeping close watch on the dark corridors as they did so.

"Up ahead," Murphy muttered, motioning with his head so Carl knew which way he should throw the light on. The sounds were more clear as they walked further into the tombs; there were people in the tombs, people that were trying to escape walkers.

The moment the sign 'boiler room' stood in front of them, both males stopped dead in their tracks. Murphy could feel how tense Carl was beside him, and he wanted nothing but to be able to comfort the young boy somehow.

"Let's go," Murphy muttered, pushing Carl forward a little bit trying to get him out of his own head.

Carl grunting when Murphy suddenly pulled him forward at the same time he raised his knife and slammed it into a walker's eye socket. "No!" There was a shout coming from the room opposite the boiler room, and the two of them started to move when they heard the shuffling from more walkers coming their way.

They were definitely not expecting to find a huge black man slamming a hammer into the skull of a walker, as the group around him tried to fend off even more. They looked at each other for just a moment, before they opened fire, killing the walkers surrounding the unknown group.

"Come on!" Carl yelled at them, as Murphy turned to look at where they had been coming from, trying to keep their way out open. "Hurry!" Carl pushed Murphy's back, and the two of them started trotting their way back to the cell block, guiding the group.

"The gunshot will just draw more of them here!" Murphy grunted as he slammed his knife into another skull, as he pulled Carl closer to him and away from a walker.

"Hurry!" Carl yelled, and Murphy could hear the panic in the boy's voice. He was not looking, but he felt as Carl stopped suddenly and he groaned as he pivoted back. They watched the huge man take the injured woman and throw her over his shoulder; just as the black woman with him took down a walker with a shovel to the head.

"You have to leave her!" The words coming out of the boy's mouth concerned Murphy, knowing that they were truly coming more from fear than from not caring about people.

"No way!" The black man barked, as the small group fell back into step behind Carl and Murphy. Murphy kept on guiding them back into the cell block, keeping Carl within his reach at all times. There was no way he was losing that boy to this.

The moment they reached the common space, as he slammed into the bars, it felt like homecoming. He tried to regain his breath as he watched the small group enter, nodding at Carl as he closed and locked the doors behind the last one of them.

"No!" Someone was yelling at his right, but he had no other concern at the moment but to get his heart back into a normal rate and keep an eye on his young charge.

"Is she dead?" Those words did get his attention though, watching as the woman, apparently called Donna, was brought down from the man's shoulder and onto the floor. He saw as Carl made his way to them, following close as he saw him cock up his gun.

"I'll take care of it," Carl had barely muttered the words, when Murphy was already pushing him away with a hand in his shoulder as he took his homemade silencer with the other, taking the gun away from him.

"The hell you will," he muttered as he blocked the scene from the boy with his own body.

"I can do it Murph!" The boy's eyes were challenging as he looked up at the blue eyed man, fearless and to some degree emotionless.

"You don't have to," was all Murphy answered, moving the hand he had used to harshly push him away to now cradle the side of his neck. He saw as the boy's eyes started filling with tears, and he just pulled him into his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" Murphy turned, with Carl still clutched to his chest to look at whoever had spoken to him. He saw as both the black man and the black woman, were looking at him with a mix of wonder and fear.

"She doesn't have much time left, she's bit," Murphy moved his right arm from where he was keeping Carl close to him, to sign himself, "You need to do it before she comes back."

"How did you get in here? Who are you with?" The black women looked at them panicking slightly.

He felt as Carl started trying to pull back, and he allowed him. "We can help you," he still kept one arm around his shoulder though. "But first things first." The boy sniffled as he said the words, his eyes red but his head up and looking at the strangers with courage.

The black man saw as Murphy moved to pull out his gun, and shook his head. "No," he took a breath, "we take care of our own."

Both Carl and Murphy nodded, moving back towards the proper cell block as if to give them privacy. It was a painful moment, and they had no right to intrude it. "Hey," Murphy said softly to Carl as they reached the cellblock door, "Come here." He didn't wait for the boy's answer, he just pulled him back into his arms, and he felt as the boy's small body sagged into his. He was clutching him with more strength that he would have expected from someone his size, but as he tried to cover his ears without being overly obvious about it as the people behind them said their goodbyes; he couldn't help but wonder where the fuck was Rick Grimes? And why the fuck had he not seen to look after his son?

With a sigh, he pulled away, pushing him to go back into the cell block. Back to Beth, Hershel and Little Judith. "Lock the door," he said softly to him, as he pulled the door close. Nodding at Carl as the boy pulled out the keys and locked it behind them.

"Hey!" It was the woman again, making her way towards the bars, looking in astonishment as Carl and now Beth looked at them from behind locked doors. "What are you doing? Are you locking us in?"

"Hey kid!" The Black man had forgotten about what he was about to do, moving towards the locked door as well. "Let us out of here."

Murphy felt his blood boil as he saw the small step back both teens took. They both put a good front, but he knew they were scared. "Hey, shit heads." All eyes turned on him, as if they hadn't realized he was there with them still. "Yes, you are locked in here, you are safe, you have water and food."

The woman looked at him, before noticing the keys in Carl's hands and moving towards them once again. "Open this door," her voice had barely concealed anger, and Murphy did not like that at all.

"Hey, lass," faster than she could react his arm was gripping the bars right across her face, "get the fuck away from them."

Her eyes turned to him, and from closer inspection he could see it was not anger, but fear. "Come on, man," she half said, half whispered to him, "we're not animals, don't do this."

Apparently, Murphy took too long to answer, because as she saw Hershel move out from one of the cells, her hand slammed into the door at the same time she yelled. "Come on! You can't leave us in here."

If there was something that Murphy had never had any qualms with, was with hitting women when they deserved it; and someone making his kids jump scared? They fucking deserved it in his books. The next thing she knew, the girl was slammed against the big guys chest; and he was barely able to react quickly enough to catch her before she ended up on the floor. "Never," Murphy sneered at her, "never threaten my family in front of me."

Murphy could see the anger in her eyes once she was standing on her own again, but the other man stopped her with a hand on her shoulder as she was about to make her way back to him. "Sasha!" he hissed, looking from the side of her head to Murphy back and forth. "Back away from the door, and let the man go."

The woman, Sasha, took a step back, turning to look at the older man. "Look around you," his voice was leveled, as he took the opportunity to look at the room they were at. "It's the best we've had in weeks."

"His house," the man turned to look at Murphy, whose' eyes had not left them. "We got other things to worry about." He pointed back to where the woman was still lying with the red cloth over her face.

"We don't want any trouble," he stated before he softly guided Sasha back to where their friend lay dead.

Murphy didn't realize he was holding his breath until they were on the other side of the room. To be honest, he had only reacted, he was not sure he would have been able to take them on his own if it had come down to a fight. That man was huge!

"You alright?" He asked softly as he turned to look at Beth and Carl inside the cell block.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked as she looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

"That's what we're doing," was Carl's response, to which Murphy nodded.

"Go and try to get some sleep," he told the two teenagers. "You did good, deputy" Murphy said as he reached through the bars and patted Carl on top of his sheriff's' hat. The boy just grunted, as he moved away and back into his cell. Murphy would count that as a win, the smile on the boy's face was undeniable.

.-.-.-

If asked, Daryl would not be able to say what had bothered him the most at that moment. The fact that they took HIS crossbow away from him; the fact that someone had bound his hands behind his back and was pulling at his bad shoulder (the left one), or the fact that they had his head covered with something that smelled disgusting.

In theory, he knew that there were other things he should be concerned about. But at the moment, as he was manhandled around he was unable to focus on anything other the fact that if he didn't go back to the prison, Carol would be so pissed off at him. She would stop talking to him until he somehow without letting others know got back in her good graces.

He grunted as one of the goons pulled him roughly to the side, making him lose his balance and that made him feel even more weak than he had been already. He tried to keep his thoughts on Carol, on anything else but the fact that he was probably been taken to the slaughterhouse. The men guiding him did not say a word, and that was somewhat even worse.

He could feel the now familiar sensation of a panic attack trying to settle in his chest. The bonds, the hood over his head, the unknown people touching him; it was becoming too much. He was barely able to keep it together when he was roughly pulled by one of his arms, the grunt that left his mouth as the hood covering his head was pulled away was unconscious. And then, there was nothing but Merle.

He could hear people reacting around him, but his eyes couldn't leave the cold expression on his brother's face. There he was, looking no worse for wear, his older brother. He wanted to call out for him, feeling like he was six years old once again; but the words got stuck in his throat. Their eyes met and he swore he could see that sixteen-year-old boy, the older brother that he had once been looking back at him.

The effect was quickly broken when someone else caught his attention. Andrea, another person left behind by Rick just as his brother was standing there in between all the fuckers of Woodbury. His eyes went back to his brother, as if trying to convince himself he was not making things up.

He was breathing hard, half dressed in front of a crowd and he only had eyes and thoughts for his brother. He didn't look around until the fucktard with the gauze in the eye walked in between him and Merle. This must be the Governor Glenn mentioned. That was when Daryl finally saw the people around them clamoring for their blood.

Both Dixon brothers gravitated towards each other without even thinking about it, after all it had been them against the world for a long time. Merle kept his eyes out, vigilant, while Daryl continued trying to understand what was going on, feeling as tears stung in his eyes every time he saw that his brother was standing beside him.

"You wanted your brother," the man, the Governor, approached Merle with a mocking smile on his face. Daryl automatically moved towards his side, his own face a mix between shock and sorrow while Merle looked the other man right in the eye, fearless. "Now you got him."


	7. Made To Suffer

**Chapter VII - Made To Suffer**

"You need to get back into that bed, love, and get some sleep for God's sake," Murphy muttered as he watched Carol move around trying to put something together for them to eat as dinner while the rest of the group littered around doing nothing.

"I can do this, Murph." The way the nickname flowed from her lips made the youngest McManus smile softly. "I'm alright."

"You almost passed out not too long ago." Carol shook her head as Connor butted in, his voice softer and more placating than his brother's.

"I'm good," she insisted, and finally stopped, turning to look at where both brothers were standing a few feet behind her, as if standing guard. "It was just a little over a day, I'm still a little thirsty, but I promise you, I'm drinking plenty of water and I'm making food so I can eat something too."

"From what we've been told, you looked worse for wear, love." The worry behind their words, as well as the way both of them were looking at her made her eyes sting with unshed tears. How could these two men, who up till a little over a week ago had been complete strangers to her, come to care so much for her in so little time? Because that's what it was, they cared and for someone who before this whole thing had started had no one other than her daughter, it was something special.

"I have claustrophobia," she took a deep breath as she continued her explanation. "It was dark, and it was small." Connor was not surprised at all when his brother left his side to grab Carol's hand in a show of support, Murphy had always been the more emotional out of the two.

"I think I hyperventilated while in there, passed out." She grimaced as she tried not to let the emotions of the last twenty-four hours get a hold of her. "I can just remember bits and pieces, and I wasn't completely there when Daryl found me."

Murphy said nothing, but simply pulled her by the hand until she was snuggled up in his arms. He closed his eyes contentedly as he felt her return the embrace. Connor just smiled as he looked at them, taking the other hand Carol was offering him and squeezing it tenderly.

"Alright." With a sigh Carol pushed Murphy away with her free hand, dropping Connor's hand as she did so. "We need to decide who's going to be on guard, and after what happened yesterday, I think it might be better if we do it during the day too."

.-.-.-

Night had fallen upon them, and after that brief encounter with the crazy ass person in the hut, Daryl felt as if all the nerves and energy he had been able to maintain under control so far were about to explode.

The place, Woodbury, seemed to be everything Michonne had told them it was. There were walls, and people on watch, but the woman was confident she could get them in; and they would have to trust her.

"Dammit," Rick muttered, Daryl looked as the black woman disregarded Rick's orders and took off into the night. Daryl sighed as he looked once again to the people guarding the walls, feeling a pang of regret not having the twins there with them. Those two fuckers were pretty good shots.

"There's no way we're going to be able to search all the buildings." The three men had moved back, away from the light which could easily expose them. "We need to downsize," Rick said in a low voice, as Daryl kept trying to count the amount of people waiting for them on top of the wall.

"There's no way we can take them all," Oscar had started to speak, when a sound was heard from behind them, making the three of them jump to attention, bringing their guns up.

Daryl glared as Michonne looked at them, slightly rolling her eyes at their panicked response. With signs, she motioned them to follow her, and at Rick's muttered words, they did.

He couldn't help but scoff as they arrived at their destination. As much as this place seemed secure, there were some really obvious breaches in their security. Daryl grunted as he followed Rick through the opening of the door which had been boarded up once, looking around as they made their way into what seemed to be a pantry.

The environment of the place, as he moved across and towards the front, gave him weird feelings. The people just walking around as if they didn't have any concerns in the street, the plants of corn growing there ... it just felt wrong.

They were still arguing about where to start the search when a man walked in on them. One of the residents just happened to enter the storage room, not having any idea of what was waiting for him inside. It was only the group's quick thinking which allowed them to be able to silence him before it was too late. And Daryl couldn't help but think about what Carol had once told him, about being Rick's henchman. Her blatant disapproval ticked through his mind as he knocked the man unconscious.

That was the last thought Daryl allowed himself about her for the time being. They had more important things to deal with than his melancholy musings. They still needed to find Maggie and Glenn.

-.-.-

Carol had lied. It might not have been an outright lie when she told the twins she didn't completely remember her time in the small cell down there in the tombs, because she had passed out more than once because of a panic attack, but she was a lot more fatigued than she was trying to let on.

Hershel had seemed to catch on to her lie, and she wasn't surprised he had done so. The brothers, as sweet as they were to her, didn't know her that well, and with a smile and a half assed promise, she had been able to send them away to work on what needed to be done. Hershel had just shaken his head, a small smile on his face, as he followed the two brothers outside for one last quick check on the perimeter.

It was the reason why Carol had been left alone with the two teenagers, the baby and Axel. That and the fact that the three men had somewhat told her in their own words to get some more rest.

"You're really good with her," Carol heard Axel's voice as she walked towards what once had been hers and Lori's cell. She frowned as she realized that the only people there, other than her, were Carl and Beth… and that didn't seem to be directed at Carl.

Her footsteps were silent as she approached the cell where Daryl had put her earlier that day, frowning as she heard Axel's voice once again after what seemed like enough time for him to get an answer from Beth. "Did you have any younger siblings?"

There was something in his tone that just didn't sit well with her, and the moment she looked into the cell she knew what was it. Carl was standing to the side, his body tense but in a way that made Carol think he didn't even know the reason why ... but she knew. "No," Beth's sweet voice answered the older man, and Carol glared at him from where she was standing at the door.

"How old are you anyway?" A smile threatened to appear on her face as she saw Carl cross his arms and glare at the older man at his question. The boy was full of anger, and he was not stupid, he knew something was not quite right about all this.

"Seventeen." Beth was too innocent sometimes. This was a man, preying on a child, and maybe she couldn't do much to protect these children from whatever was out there, but she would surely protect them from what was in there with them.

"Seventeen, interesting." Carol tried not to gag as she saw the way Axel leered at Beth. There was no reason, ever, for a grown man to be looking at a child like that.

"May I speak with you?" She tried to keep her tone light, tried to uncoil the tension in her body so Beth wouldn't catch onto what was going on. She saw, from the side of her eye as Carl's eyes followed her every movement, and she gave him a quick look and a smile before turning her glare back on Axel. The boy didn't need any more troubles weighing down his young soul. What had happened was enough.

"Me?" Axel threw a nervous look around, finally noticing both Carol's and Carl's glares. The terse nod he got from Carol was enough to get him on his feet, gulping down as he saw the older woman leave the cell. "I'll be right back," he muttered to Beth as he followed Carol out, not seeing that the moment he left the room, Carl moved to sit on his spot beside Beth.

Carol closed her fist as she walked further away from the cell and towards the back of the block. She knew the kids were still within hearing distance, but she hoped they wouldn't pry. Her hands were sweaty, and shaking slightly, but she tried to not let that show as she turned once she reached the staircase.

"What's the problem?" Axel was smiling as he reached her, and the need to slap that look from his face was just below the surface.

"Stay away from her," her voice was harsh and unforgiving, and it made the blonde man frown and take a small step away from her. He scoffed, turning to the side as to throw a glance to the cell where the girl was, opening his arms as if he was claiming innocence.

"Please." She was sure if she hadn't been glaring at him, he would have laughed at her. "Don't even think about trying to repopulate the earth." There was more than a promise in her eyes, and he wasn't as stupid as to not be able to see it.

"I didn't mean no offense." Carol shot him a look of contempt, having a fair clue as to where this was going. "I've been locked up for a long time, and there were no women, do you follow me?" He was grasping at straws; she could see that. "Maggie, she's with Glenn; and you're a lesbian,"

Her laugh couldn't be contained, shaking her head as she surprised even herself. "I'm not a lesbian." She stopped herself from elaborating as it had appeared in her mind. The dirty old man didn't need any ideas, nor did she really want to think about them like that.

"But you have the short hair?" He made a motion with his hand as if to emphasize his point, and she couldn't help but laugh and shake her head at him. "You're not a lesbian?" There was surprise evident in his voice, and again she had to stop herself from explaining to him explicitly how much of a lesbian she was not . "My, my, that makes this interesting …" She saw how he changed in front of her eyes, the look of lust which appeared while he tried to play it cool as he leaned over the banister to give her a slimy smile.

"No, it's not." She shuddered as she moved past him, feeling his eyes on her backside as she walked away. She might have appeared unmoved by him; women always needed to do so to stop creeps like Axel from trying anything, but the way he had looked at her made her skin ache with disgust.

"Hey ..." She was walking back towards the door, eyes down, when Connor's greeting brought her out of her reverie. She saw how he frowned as soon as she raised her eyes to his, that man was just as observant as Daryl; but it was even worse because he was definitely more attuned to emotions than her best friend. "He bothering you?" Connor asked as he threw a glare at Axel over her shoulder, smirking when he saw the blonde man jump slightly as he finally raised his eyes from Carol's ass.

"I can take care of myself." The tone of her voice, together with the way she crossed her arms in front of her, made him stop for a moment to really look at her. She not only looked tired, but also defeated in a way.

"I know." She couldn't look at him as she felt him touch her arm softly, cupping her elbow and pulling her closer to him. "I'm not saying you can't, I just know him and he's a sniveling little arsehole."

Her chuckle seemed to calm something within him, as did her blue eyes as she'd looked up at him before. There was the usual sadness behind them, but they definitely looked lighter than a couple of hours before. "I found him sniffing around Beth."

"Motherfucker," his muttered curse just made her laugh, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud of that fact.

"I already warned him off," she rolled her eyes, huffing as she saw the blonde man still staring at them from afar. "But I don't trust him."

"And you shouldn't."

"I don't want him to sleep here tonight," she sighed, raising a hand and rubbing her forehead. The outside door opened, allowing Hershel passage inside once again.

They shared a look, understanding the topic needed to be dropped, the older man's health was not optimal, and having him try and handle the blonde man together with everything else, she knew no good could come of it. "Your brother said he'll stay there until midnight, that you should take over after."

"Axel and I will take over." Hershel raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Carol at her words. The blonde man had not been silent when he, more than once, mentioned how bad of a shot he really was. If he had ever actually fired a gun before in his life.

"Carol," Connor muttered softly, frowning as he looked down at her. "You need rest."

"And he needs to learn how to shoot," she snapped, and the stubbornness in her eyes made the corner of his mouth start to rise slightly. What a woman!

"But _you_ need to sleep."

"I'll sleep there," Hershel gave her a suspicious look, before turning and leaving the two of them to figure out the rest.

"I'm not leaving you alone asleep with him," Connor hissed, getting closer to Carol as they both watched Hershel hop away.

"You are not letting me do anything, Connor MacManus."

The tone of her voice let him know a lot of things, and to be honest, he enjoyed every single one of them. The grin Carol got as an answer to her words, was definitely not what she had been expecting.

"Alright," he nodded, still grinning as he looked back at where the blond man was looking inside the cell where the children were. "But if he gropes you in your sleep, it's on you."

Her chuckle at the sound he made as she buried her elbow in his side, made Hershel smile and shake his head. It was good to have her back from the dead.

.-.-.

The moment the smoke filled the room as they fought their way to their friends, Daryl's gut gave a somersault. There was something wrong with the scene, something which did not feel quite right. The surprise factor the smoke grenade gave them allowed them to leave unharmed, without having to actually kill anyone, as the people in Woodbury tried to recover and shoot at their retreating backs.

They made their way through the shadows, him as one of the best shots as well as one of the most observant, keeping watch as Maggie and Oscar practically had to carry Glenn between them. The Korean man looked worse for wear, the damage done to him was extensive and for some reason, - as he gave him a quick look over as they stopped inside an empty house - somewhat familiar.

Daryl continued to run on point at the front of his group back to the house, adrenaline pumping rapidly through his veins making him edgy. He offered to go out to look for Michonne, not liking one bit the idea of leaving her behind as Rick said the words; he didn't leave people behind, never.

"Daryl," Glenn's pain filled grunt made him focus on the younger man, "it was Merle." He could see as the Korean kept on talking, but there was just something inside of him which couldn't exactly process what came after his initial words. Merle? His brother? Was alive and there in Woodbury? It was just something he was unable to process with all the blood and adrenaline rushing through his system at the time.

He looked on as Maggie helped Glenn get dressed, his face blank as he tried to understand what was coming out of the man's mouth. "My brother is the Governor?" There was incredulity in his voice. Merle wasn't stupid, but he had no self-control … especially not to be able to get something like Woodbury off the ground. He would have fucked and drank it all before nightfall if he was in charge.

"He's not, it's somebody else." The hate in Maggie's voice didn't even register. Daryl couldn't get past the fact that Merle was alive, his family was still alive. "He's his lieutenant or something."

"Does he know I'm still with you?" There was a part of Daryl that would never stop looking up to his older brother. He would be eighty, and the feeling that Merle would be there if something happened to him would still linger; even if Merle had stopped being there for him before his age was in double digits.

"He does now." The pressure he had felt the day before in his chest was back, and he couldn't focus. He had to move towards the back of the house as everyone around him tried to regroup. Now was not the time to have a panic attack. This time there was no Connor or Murphy, or even Carol, to help him with it, and the longing he felt inside for them somewhat rivaled the one he felt for Merle, and that scared the shit out of him. But he needed his brother, now.

He watched as Rick helped Maggie pull Glenn to his feet, and he knew his time was up. "If Merle's around, I..." The pressure in his chest felt like bursting, and he hated that he was always easily brought to tears when it came to this shit. "I need to see him."

"Not right now." Rick's face was almost in front of his, the harsh edge in his voice wasn't something he expected. "We're in enemy territory."

Daryl shook his head slightly, his face confused and sad as he tried to understand the situation. "He's my brother, I ain't…"

"Look what he's done." The tone and the way Rick threateningly took a step forward made Daryl start shaking slightly as he retreated a step back. "We've got to get out of here; we've got to go, NOW!"

Daryl shook his head; this was his brother they were talking about. "But I got to talk to him, I could work something out…" His voice was pleading with the former officer, his heart breaking at the thought of leaving his brother behind yet again.

"No, no, no, no!" Daryl took a step back, flinching when he noticed Rick had raised a hand to touch his arm. "You're not thinking straight." Daryl tried to take a breath, to try and get the feeling inside his chest to lessen a little bit as Rick turned to look at Maggie and Glenn over his shoulder. "No matter what they say, they are hurt and we need to get them out of here and back to the prison."

He could see as Rick continued talking, as he moved his lips to say things to him, but his brain wouldn't accept it. Merle was alive. "I need you," Rick's words made sense, but there was just something not right. Why? Why couldn't he try and see his brother?

He heard himself accepting, he saw as the rest of his 'family' prepared to leave. But his mind was not there. It was back on an Atlanta rooftop with the man he thought he would never see again.

Once again the smoke grenades were the perfect cover for the escape mission. The moment they covered enough, they took off towards where the buses were, the 'front doors' of Woodbury. Daryl was back on point, trying to keep his mind in the game, but not being able to completely shut it down.

He gave the other guys cover, but at the same time he tried to not shoot at people. Any one of them could be his brother after all. They made their way across the street, people shooting at them from all over, they were way outmanned.

"How many did you see?" Someone asked him as he started taking things from the bag he had been carrying, passing around more guns and magazines.

"No matter, we need to get out of here." He was focused on getting his people out, but he needed to see his brother. If he didn't get out, well, he truly didn't think it would be that big of a deal.

"Any grenades left?" At Rick's question, he pulled out the few they had left, giving him a grunt in acknowledgment. "We need to make our way to the buses."

The fight continued around them while Daryl pulled even more things out of the bag. It was then he made his decision: he would get everyone out, but he needed to talk to his brother. To hell with what Rick Grimes said, he just hoped if something happened, the three people back at the prison would not kill him for his decision.

"Go ahead." He passed out more weapons to those around him, "I'll lay down some cover fire."

"We got to stay together," someone said, the pang in his chest worsening. The thought that the words yelled by Maggie could have easily have been said by a certain other woman was playing games with his head.

"Too dangerous, I'll be right behind you." He had barely given out the last of his weapons when he pulled a grenade and threw it down the street. "Ready?" He didn't wait for the answer, he tossed the smoke grenade and moved forward with his automatic rifle, crouching down by a bench and opening fire.

He felt and heard as the rest of his group made their way towards the buses, but he stayed on point. He continued to shoot, trying not to feel anything as people dropped dead from his bullets. Daryl tried not to think at the possibility that he might have been shooting at his own flesh and blood.

He heard yelling behind him, from Maggie calling out for Rick, and then from the man himself calling out for him. He couldn't leave his brother behind this time. No ... he wouldn't leave his brother behind. "Go!" He yelled back, continuing to shoot as his chosen family escaped over the buses.

.-.-.-

Carol yawned once again as she rested her weight against the banister in front of her, her legs dangling as she kicked them back and forth. Axel had finally shut up a few minutes before, his unending babble and lewd looks he shot her had been getting on her nerves more than they usually would have. And she knew the reason for that.

The look Murphy had shot her as she and Axel had arrived to take over the watch, had a lot more behind it than she felt like deciphering right then. So with a small smile, and a push at his back, the Irishman had left the two of them alone. She knew they would eventually be back. She knew those two, knew they wouldn't leave her out there with the blonde horndog on her own for long, but she appreciated it anyway.

She shivered as the humid summer night wind ruffled her open jacket. The weather was something she had always liked about Georgia, and she had severely missed it while they were living up north. The hot days with the cool nights brought memories from her childhood, as did the smell of the ground after a storm, took her back to a better time, when her parents were alive, and before she had her heart broken by someone who was supposed to love her more than his own life.

She mentally shook herself as she continued to look onto the chain fences, watching as a couple of walkers passed them by. Her thoughts were not a good place to spend time, especially not at that moment. She couldn't believe it had been less than twenty-four hours since she had been almost sure she was going to die inside that tiny dark cell; since the walls had started to come down on her, and her mind began to shut down.

Now? Now she was back out there, worrying about her family, worrying about Daryl as he went to try and bring back the rest of their people back. She felt a pang in her chest, as if someone was squeezing her heart at the thought of him being out there with no one covering his back; because she knew him, and she knew he would be taking all the risks needed to get their people home safely.

Carol jumped as she heard the door behind them slam closed, turning fast, her gun coming up only to find herself pointing it right at Connor's chest. The younger man grinned at her, keeping his hands up. "I come in peace."

Carol chuckled, rolling her eyes as she turned back to keep watch. "Much use, this arsehole is," she heard Connor mutter behind her as she looked over her shoulder. He kicked Axel's boot in passing, rolling his eyes when the blond man only muttered before continuing to asleep. "You are the one who's supposed to be getting some sleep," he said, groaning as he moved to sit beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

"I had not even noticed he had fallen asleep." She threw him a small smile, both pretending not to look at each other as they kept their eyes on the lookout. "I was just grateful he was finally quiet."

Connor shook his head, chuckling. "You have no idea how many times we ended up knocking him out just so he would shut up."

Carol did not even try to hide her laughter at that, and Connor couldn't help but feel elated at the fact that he had been able to make her react like that. Slowly, he moved so he could loop an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. "I'm glad to be able to hear your laugh again," he muttered as he pressed his mouth to the crown of her head, keeping her close to him ... as close as she allowed him.

There were no words Carol could speak which could explain what she felt at his words, so she didn't even try. She just sighed and let herself be pulled into his somewhat protective embrace. There was just something about these two men which made her feel completely at ease around them, an ease she hadn't found in anyone else but Daryl, ever.

"Are you ever going to try and get some sleep?" his words were quiet a few minutes later as he felt her yawn once again.

"I'm afraid," she breathed quietly before she realized what she was saying. Connor felt her tense in his arms, biting his tongue to keep himself from interrupting her.

"Hey," he said softly, using the arm he had around her shoulders to move her so he could look down into her eyes. "I'm not going to say there's nothing to be afraid of," he gave her a sad smile, "but I can stay with you, if you think it might help?"

He saw the moment her exhaustion won over her fears as she nodded and scooted over so she could lay down right there on the floor beside him. He chuckled when without having to say anything she laid her head on his thigh. He moved the rifle she had been holding ready to his other side, using his right hand to run it soothingly through her short hair. As he watched her eyes close , he started to softly recite some of the prayers his mam had used when they had been young and night terrors had haunted them, hoping they could help her as much as they had done for them in their youth. She deserved peace at least in her dreams.

.-.-.-

Murphy tried to fall into slumber as soon as he had been relieved from watch duty by Carol. But between his brother stomping his way around their cell, together with a crying baby, two teenagers and an old man in crutches; that had almost been impossible to do.

He saw as Connor left their cell, listening intently as the metal door which separated the cell block and then the heavier outside door slammed behind him. He just knew he'd left to try and let Carol get some sleep; that woman was infuriatingly stubborn sometimes.

His eyes closed, he began to feel himself dozing off. He was not yet that far into sleep that he didn't hear the sounds around him, but he was just that far off that he didn't understand what they were talking about. The next thing he knew, Carl was barging into his cell yelling at him that they needed to go.

"Where are we going, lad?" he asked as he yawned, following the boy as he took the gun he had taken from Daryl's things from under the bed as well as his knife.

"We heard some screaming coming from the tombs," the boy answered as he gave a solemn nod to Hershel before opening the cell block door, letting Murphy go through before closing it behind them.

"Carol?" The older man tensed at the simple thought of her being back there, after what had happened the day before.

"No, she's still in the tower," he hastily explained. "She didn't come back after Connor joined them." The two continued their way into the entrails of the prison, keeping close watch on the dark corridors as they did so.

"Up ahead," Murphy muttered, motioning with his head so Carl knew which way he should aim the light. The sounds became clearer as they walked further into the tombs; there were people down there, people who were trying to escape walkers.

The moment the sign 'boiler room' stood in front of them, both males stopped dead in their tracks. Murphy could feel how tense Carl was beside him, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort the young boy somehow.

"Let's go," Murphy muttered, pushing Carl forward a little bit, trying to get him out of his own head.

Carl grunted when Murphy suddenly pulled him forward at the same time he raised his knife and slammed it into a walker's eye socket. "No!" There was a shout coming from the room opposite the boiler room, and the two of them began to move when they heard the shuffling from more walkers coming their way.

They were definitely not expecting to find a huge black man slamming a hammer into the skull of a walker, as the group around him tried to fend off even more. They looked at each other for just a moment, before they opened fire, killing the walkers surrounding the unknown group.

"Come on!" Carl yelled at them, as Murphy turned to look at where they had been coming from, trying to keep their way out open. "Hurry!" Carl pushed Murphy's back, and the two of them started trotting their way back to the cell block, guiding the group.

"The gunshot will just draw more of them here!" Murphy grunted as he slammed his knife into another skull, pulling Carl closer to him and away from a walker.

"Hurry!" Carl yelled, and Murphy could hear the panic in the boy's voice. He was not looking, but he felt as Carl stopped suddenly, and he groaned as he pivoted back. They watched the huge man take the injured woman and throw her over his shoulder; just as the black woman with him took down a walker with a shovel to the head.

"You have to leave her!" The words coming out of the boy's mouth concerned Murphy, knowing that they were truly spoken more from fear than from not caring about people.

"No way!" The black man barked, as the small group fell back into step behind Carl and Murphy. Murphy kept guiding them back into the cell block, keeping Carl within his reach at all times. There was no way he was losing that boy to this.

The moment they reached the common space, as he slammed into the bars, it felt like homecoming. He tried to regain his breath as he watched the small group enter, nodding at Carl as he closed and locked the doors behind the last one of them.

"No!" Someone was yelling at his right, but he had no other concern at the moment than to get his heart back into a normal rate and keep an eye on his young charge.

"Is she dead?" Those words did get his attention though, watching as the woman, apparently called Donna, was brought down from the man's shoulder and onto the floor. He saw as Carl made his way to them, following close as he saw him cock his gun.

"I'll take care of it," Carl had barely muttered the words, when Murphy was already pushing him away with a hand on his shoulder as he took his homemade silencer with the other, taking the gun away from him.

"The hell you will," he muttered as he blocked the scene from the boy with his own body.

"I can do it Murph!" The boy's eyes were challenging as he looked up at the blue eyed man, fearless and to some degree emotionless.

"You don't have to," was all Murphy answered, moving the hand he had used to harshly push him away to now cradle the side of his neck. He saw as the boy's eyes started filling with tears, and he just pulled him into his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" Murphy turned, with Carl still clutched to his chest to look at whoever had spoken to him. He saw as both the black man and the black woman, were looking at him with a mix of wonder and fear.

"She doesn't have much time left; she's bit," Murphy moved his right arm from where he was keeping Carl close to him, to sign himself, "You need to do it before she comes back."

"How did you get in here? Who are you with?" The black women looked at them panicking slightly.

He felt as Carl started trying to pull back, and he allowed him. "We can help you," he still kept one arm around his shoulder though. "But first things first." The boy sniffled as he said the words, his eyes red but his head up and looking at the strangers with courage.

The black man watched as Murphy moved to pull out his gun, and shook his head. "No," he took a breath, "we take care of our own."

Both Carl and Murphy nodded, moving back towards the proper cell block as if to give them privacy. It was a painful moment, and they had no right to intrude upon it. "Hey," Murphy said softly to Carl as they reached the cellblock door, "come here." He didn't wait for the boy's answer, he just pulled him back into his arms, and he felt as the Carl's small body sagged into his. He was clutching him with more strength that he would have expected from someone his size, but as he tried to cover his ears without being overly obvious about it as the people behind them said their goodbyes; he couldn't help but wonder where the fuck was Rick Grimes? And why the fuck had he not seen fit to look after his son?

With a sigh, he pulled away, pushing him to go back into the cell block. Back to Beth, Hershel and little Judith. "Lock the door," he said softly to him, as he pulled the door close, nodding at Carl as the boy pulled out the keys and locked it behind them.

"Hey!" It was the woman again, making her way towards the bars, looking in astonishment as Carl and now Beth looked at them from behind locked doors. "What are you doing? Are you locking us in?"

"Hey kid!" The Black man had forgotten about what he was about to do, moving towards the locked door as well. "Let us out of here."

Murphy felt his blood boil as he saw the small step back both teens took. They both put on a good front, but he knew they were scared. "Hey, shit heads." All eyes turned on him, as if they hadn't realized he was there with them still. "Yes, you are locked in here, you are safe, you have water and food."

The woman looked at him, before noticing the keys in Carl's hands and moving towards them once again. "Open this door," her voice had barely concealed anger, and Murphy did not like that at all.

"Hey, lass," faster than she could react his arm was gripping the bars right across her face, "get the fuck away from them."

Her eyes turned to him, and from closer inspection he could see it was not anger, but fear. "Come on, man," she half said, half whispered to him, "we're not animals, don't do this."

Apparently, Murphy took too long to answer, because as she saw Hershel move out from one of the cells, her hand slammed into the door at the same time she yelled. "Come on! You can't leave us in here."

If there was something Murphy had never had any qualms with, it was hitting women when they deserved it; and someone making his kids jump scared? They fucking deserved it in his books. The next thing she knew, the girl was slammed against the big guys chest; and he was barely able to react quickly enough to catch her before she ended up on the floor. "Never," Murphy sneered at her, "never threaten my family in front of me."

Murphy could see the anger in her eyes once she was standing on her own again, but the other man stopped her with a hand on her shoulder as she was about to make her way back to him. "Sasha!" he hissed, looking from the side of her head to Murphy back and forth. "Back away from the door, and let the man go."

The woman, Sasha, took a step back, turning to look at the older man. "Look around you," his voice was leveled, as he took the opportunity to look at the room they were in. "It's the best we've had in weeks."

"His house," the man turned to look at Murphy, whose' eyes had not left them. "We got other things to worry about." He pointed back to where the woman was still lying with the red cloth over her face.

"We don't want any trouble," he stated before he softly guided Sasha back to where their friend lay dead.

Murphy didn't realize he was holding his breath until they were on the other side of the room. To be honest, he had only reacted, he was not sure he would have been able to take them on his own if it had come down to a fight. That man was huge!

"You alright?" He asked softly as he turned to look at Beth and Carl inside the cell block.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked as she looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

"That's what we're doing," was Carl's response, to which Murphy nodded.

"Go and try to get some sleep," he told the two teenagers. "You did good, deputy" Murphy said as he reached through the bars and patted Carl on top of his sheriff's' hat. The boy just grunted, as he moved away and back into his cell. Murphy would count that as a win; the smile on the boy's face was undeniable.

.-.-.-

If asked, Daryl would not be able to say what had bothered him the most at that moment. The fact that they took HIS crossbow away from him; the fact that someone had bound his hands behind his back and was pulling at his bad shoulder (the left one), or the fact that they had his head covered with something which smelled disgusting.

In theory, he knew there were other things he should be concerned about. But at the moment, as he was manhandled around, he was unable to focus on anything other the fact that if he didn't go back to the prison, Carol would be so pissed off at him. She would stop talking to him until he somehow - without letting others know - got back in her good graces.

He grunted as one of the goons pulled him roughly to the side, making him lose his balance which made him feel even weaker than he had been already. He tried to keep his thoughts on Carol, on anything rather than the fact that he was probably being taken to the slaughterhouse. The men guiding him did not say a word, and that was even worse.

He could feel the now familiar sensation of a panic attack trying to settle in his chest. The bonds, the hood over his head, the unknown people touching him; it was becoming too much. He was barely able to keep it together when he was roughly pulled by one of his arms, the grunt escaping his mouth as the hood covering his head was pulled away was unconscious. And then, there was nothing but Merle.

He could hear people reacting around him, but his eyes couldn't leave the cold expression on his brother's face. There he was, looking no worse for wear, his older brother. He wanted to call out for him, feeling like he was six years old once again, but the words got stuck in his throat. Their eyes met, and he swore he could see that sixteen-year-old boy, the older brother - who he had once been - looking back at him.

The effect was quickly broken when someone else caught his attention. Andrea, another person left behind by Rick, just as his brother had been, standing there in between all the fuckers of Woodbury. His eyes went back to his brother, as if trying to convince himself he was not making things up.

He was breathing hard, half dressed in front of a crowd and he only had eyes and thoughts for his brother. He didn't look around until the fucktard with the gauze over the eye walked between him and Merle. This must be the Governor Glenn had mentioned. That was when Daryl finally saw the people around them clamoring for their blood.

Both Dixon brothers gravitated towards each other without even thinking about it, after all it had been them against the world for a long time. Merle kept his eyes open, vigilant, while Daryl continued trying to understand what was going on, feeling as tears stung in his eyes every time he saw his brother standing beside him.

"You wanted your brother," the man, the Governor, approached Merle with a mocking smile on his face. Daryl automatically moved towards his side, his own face a mix between shock and sorrow while Merle looked the other man right in the eye, fearless. "Now you have him."


	8. Suicide King

**Chapter VIII - Suicide King**

Murphy tried not to smile at the scene before him. After helping the small group handle their 'little' situation, he let the man he now knew to be Tyreese and his sister Sasha rest. After checking on Hershel and the teenagers, he knew it was his time to go and relieve his brother and Carol from watch duty. The picture which met him once he climbed up the watchtower was that of Carol dead asleep with her head on his brother's lap, while he kept his word and stayed awake for watch. "Time's up, fucker," Murphy muttered, kicking his brother softly in the leg, grunting when Connor just punched him in the shin without saying anything else.

"I'm not going to wake her," Connor said as Murphy sat down beside him. It must have been at least four in the morning, the first rays of light were not far off by then.

"Try and sleep then; I've got this."

There was something going on in his brother's mind, Connor was sure of that. But as Murphy took out one of his cigarettes and lit it, he knew he needed to give him time. So, knowing one of his brothers was at his side, and the other shouldn't be taking long to come back, he moved so as not to disturb Carol's head on his lap and fell asleep with his brother's hand over his calf.

.-.-.

The look the Governor was throwing Daryl and Merle made Daryl's breaths come quicker, adrenaline coursing through him. He threw a look from the side of his eye to his brother, trying not to react when he heard the crowd around them clamor for their deaths once again.

He could feel the fucker walking around his back, and he tried to control his breathing, especially knowing Merle was right beside him. Panic attacks were one thing which would certainly get him punched by his brother when he was younger, he had learned that early on; and he knew, in the part of his brain which could focus at that moment, that he needed to have a cool head to think.

Daryl saw as Andrea tried to make her way to the man in charge, at the same time someone walked behind him and started cutting his bonds away.

"He's my friend!"

Daryl's eyes raised to meet Andrea's just as the Governor answered her, and the rest of the multitude finally quieted down.

"It's not up to me," the man was enjoying this too much and Daryl just knew there was something inherently wrong with him. "The people have spoken."

He watched as the man's eye focused on his brother, as he continued to try and regain his normal breath. "I asked you where your loyalties lie," the asshole's hand raised and pointed at Merle, "and you said It was here. Now it's time to prove it."

Daryl's heart skipped a beat as the Governor continued. "Brother against brother." He turned to look at Merle, trying to catch his eye. There was no way in hell he was fighting his brother, and to the death? Hell no! "Winner goes free," something deflated in him as Merle only threw him a quick look before looking back to his former boss.

It wasn't as though he didn't trust his brother, it was that he _knew_ his brother. He knew he was a survivor, just like him. What he also knew, or at least he hoped he knew, was how much blood meant to him. What other reason than blood could have kept him from killing the bastard who was Will Dixon for all those years?

"Fight, to the death!"

The people went wild around them, and Daryl couldn't help but look at them. What was wrong with these people? His eyes kept jumping from the people back to his brother. He could hear Andrea pleading for them from somewhere, but he had nothing else to focus on but the man standing by his side.

Merle finally looked him in the eye before he turned his back, raising his arms in victory. "You know me," he yelled at the crowd around them, and Daryl felt like dying. "I'm going to do, whatever I gotta do." He was pacing, and with each step he got closer and closer to him. Daryl didn't know what was going on. Should he raise his arms up in defense against his brother? "To prove..." He didn't have time to react. One moment Merle was giving him his back, the next he was throwing a punch into his stomach making him stumble to the ground while he coughed, trying to regain his breath. "That my loyalty..." in that moment, Daryl wasn't in Woodbury anymore. He was lying on the ground of their old house, getting the shit kicked out of him by his father thirty years in the past. "Is to this town."

Merle continued to kick him while he was down, throwing him around the made up ring. It wasn't until he was slammed into a wall, that Daryl regained knowledge of where he was. He was in Woodbury, it was Merle and not his father who was kicking the shit out of him, even though Merle's voice sounded so much like their father's. And with Merle? Merle he could hit back.

He saw as his brother prepared to throw another punch at him, and used that opportunity to throw a punch with all his strength, connecting with his jaw. Giving him enough time to climb back to his feet. But Merle was trained, Merle knew him, and as he went to grab him by his shirt, he threw him off with his back against the floor before he knew what had happened.

His hands immediately went to Merle's neck, trying to choke him into releasing him from the position they were in. "Do you really think this asshole in going to let you go?" he asked as he saw his brother's face turn several shades of red, just as he felt Merle's weight against his damaged rib cage.

"Just follow my lead, little brother." Daryl was glad he was too fucking confused from the beginning, because they would have definitely gotten caught if he had reacted like he wanted. "We're getting out of this shithole right now."

Using the momentum, Merle threw himself back while pulling Daryl up with him. Both brothers moved automatically to stand back to back as they regarded those around them. There were walkers now. Someone had brought in walkers as Merle kicked the crap out of him and they were being shoved towards him by some weird fuckers.

The feeling of fighting back to back to his brother was one he was familiar with. And just like that, the Dixon brothers began attacking the walkers as the men of Woodbury tried to control them. Daryl measured his punches, knowing that if he didn't, it could mean a bite and that was it. He tried not to think about how Merle was doing as he used his movements to throw one of the walkers into the angry crowd behind them.

When the shooting started, both brothers crouched down together in the center of the 'ring'. The moment Daryl saw the smoke grenade; he couldn't help but smile a little even if they were still in the middle of the shit storm. They'd come back for him.

The lights were gone next, and the people around them, the common people, started to panic. Smoke filled the arena, and he could feel as Merle tried to grab him to keep him close more than once. "Stay close!" Merle yelled at him as he killed a walker which had gotten too close for comfort.

"Merle," Daryl called for his brother as he finally saw an opening, "Come on!"

He saw a light shining from up ahead, and he just knew it was his family. As they started moving out of the smoke filled area, he saw a man pointing his crossbow at a walker. Without even waiting to see what happened, he took the bow from the man, knowing Merle had his back. "Move!" He yelled over his shoulder as he started trotting away from that place, knowing the danger had not passed.

The moment he finally saw Rick's face, he felt like he could breathe again. "Daryl, let's go!" He saw as Maggie was running up ahead, and without looking back he followed her. After all, he was going home.

One of the advantages of what the Governor had tried to do was that there was no man power out manning the wall, since he had been so focused on trying to keep the Dixon brothers in line. The man was so egocentric he had not left any sentries anywhere and their path to the proverbial front door was wide open.

As they ran, Daryl tried to avoid thinking of the pain in his side and how he felt as if he couldn't really breathe. That was something to worry about later, once they were away from the home of that madman. He kept looking towards his brother as he ran with his crossbow raised high in case they ran into more hostiles.

Once he saw the busses up front, meaning they were at their escape point, he couldn't help but feel a little tension leave him. "They're all at the arena," his brother yelled as he moved towards the buses, not giving the rest of them a second look.

"You're not going anywhere with us!" Rick yelled at Merle, and Daryl felt like shooting his friend in the ass with his own crossbow.

Daryl felt as his brother moved behind him, listening as the older man started kicking one of the metal plates Woodbury used in between buses. "Are we really going to do this right now?" The answer was so Merle, Daryl couldn't help but chuckle softly under his breath, not looking at Rick in case he heard him.

"Come on, man," Daryl muttered, not really knowing if the words were for Rick or for his brother. The only thing he wanted was to get the hell out of there. He threw a look over his shoulder, noticing the moment the plate gave and his brother shot out of there as if the devil was behind him. "Let's get out of here."

Daryl didn't wait to see if they were following him, he knew he needed to catch up with Merle, and that he couldn't let his brother out of his sight again. He had lost him once; he was not losing him again.

They ran through the early morning, Merle falling back once they were far enough from the town where they were relatively safe. Daryl didn't speak a word as they followed Rick back to the car, his mind going a mile a minute thinking of what was about to come. Merle was alive, and he had hurt Glenn and Maggie.

As he had told Carol before, he was not blind to the fact his brother was not a good person; even in the dead of night, while sharing with Carol, he had accepted that his brother - although not as bad as his father - hadn't treated him as he'd deserved. But he was his brother, and if Rick didn't change his mind, he had no idea what he was going to do.

He couldn't leave him. After everything, he was his flesh and blood. And what else did he have in life but that? He had a best friend he had more than friendly feelings for? He had two people that he barely knew who thought he was family? He had a group of people he suspected valued him more for what he could do, rather than who he was?

Daryl flinched when, once it was morning, Merle dropped an arm over his shoulders. Merle moved back, raising his hands in mockery as if surrendering. Daryl just grunted and continued to follow Maggie and Rick.

"Glenn!" Rick called ahead as they got closer to the car a few hours later. They all knew the Korean man was going to be livid. And on top of everything else, they had a loose end in the form of Michonne. Daryl started to jog faster as he saw both of them approaching from the road. "We have a problem here, I need you to back away."

The moment they realized Merle was with them, all hell broke loose. Daryl couldn't do anything other than worry about his irate Asian friend as Glenn pulled out a gun and pointed at his brother's head. "What the hell is he doing here?!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Daryl said as he tried to stay in front of Glenn's gun, covering Merle. He could hear his brother moving behind him, using him as a human shield and he felt like puking. It was not the first time he'd been face to face with a loaded gun because of Merle, and he doubted it would be the last. "Put it down," Daryl tried to push Glenn's gun down and away from his face, surprised up to a point at the strength the beaten man still possessed to fight him off.

Glenn was mad; he was mad and he was scared. Not the best combination. "Look at what he did to us, if it wasn't because of him we wouldn't be like this." Daryl understood Glenn's anger, he did … but it was his brother.

"He helped us to get out of there!" His eyes were on his friend, and he knew, or at least he hoped he knew, his friend well enough that Glenn wouldn't shoot him. "Drop it."

"Right after he beat the shit out of you," Rick said from his side, and Daryl just felt like turning and socking him in the jaw. Really? Couldn't he help him for a little bit?

"Hey, we both took our hits, man." His brother's thick accent made Daryl's skin crawl. His voice was so much like their old man's, it made Daryl feel like he was a little boy all over again.

"Jackass," he turned and sneered at him. Merle needed to shut the hell up and just let him try and make peace, but he knew there was no way his brother was going to co-operate. It was against his very nature.

"Shut up!" Was the answer he got from behind him, and it was no surprise really. That had been his answer for the last thirty years of their lives.

"Relax!" He turned, trying to get his brother to shut the hell up when he continued yammering his mouth from behind him and Rick, only to turn back and see Glenn a lot closer than even he was comfortable with. "Get that shit out of my face!"

"Looks like you've gotten native, brother." The use of the term brother was what set him off on Merle. It was nothing like when Connor had called him that just the day before, Merle used it like a mockery, like a dirty word; almost like an insult. Connor had said it like it had a deeper meaning than just sharing blood.

"Shut the fuck up!" Daryl said as he turned and hit Merle right in the jaw. His older brother never saw it coming, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. A walker could have been heard from yards away at the sudden silence that fell upon them. "I need a fucking smoke," he muttered as he turned and stalked out towards the road, leaving a knocked out older brother and four very confused people behind.

.-.-.-

The first thing Carol realized, was that she was definitely not in her cell. The place where she was sleeping was hard, not bad mattress hard, but concrete hard. The second was that her head was propped on something soft, and the final thing was that there was someone snuggling into her, using her as a mix between pillow and teddy bear as it seemed.

A low chuckle welcomed her as she finally opened her eyes, looking up to the old roof of the prison watchtower. She blinked as a pair of blue eyes appeared suddenly in front of her, blocking her previous view. "Morning."

Carol blinked once again, as if trying to get rid of the cobwebs behind her eyes. "Morning," she muttered as she groaned, not making a move to change her position at the moment. "What time is it?" She asked as she looked down to see who was snuggled up to her, realizing the weird pretzel like position was due to how she and Connor had ended up sleeping. She still had her head on his thigh from the night before, but now he was lying on his side, having used her stomach as a pillow of his own.

"It's still early," Murphy smiled as he looked at the two of them. Carol had unconsciously started running her hands through Connor's short hair, while she tried to fully wake up. "I sent Axel inside to start on breakfast, so you still have time to sleep in."

She made a noncommittal noise, and he couldn't help but keep the smile on his face as he looked back towards the road leading to the prison. It had been almost 18 hours since the group led by Daryl and Rick had left the prison, and the fact that they were not back yet didn't sit well with him.

"He'll be back," Carol words made him turn to look down at her, finding her looking at the same spot he'd been focused on moments before. "He always comes back." Murphy nodded, making a noise of agreement with her. "It's impressive how the two of you are so different, but then there are these gestures or movements that are exactly the same."

"We've always been with each other, it was expected."

"I didn't mean you and Connor."

.-.-.-.-

"It won't work."

"It's gotta," Daryl looked at Rick dead in the eye. He had kept quiet as they left his brother, still knocked out, in the woods, walking far away from prying ears. "The Governor is probably on his way to the prison by now, Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle."

"Are you kidding me?" Glenn huffed as he looked at Daryl, as if daring to contradict him. "He's unstable, look at what he did to us!" Daryl couldn't handle looking his friend in the eyes, to see the damage his brother had done to him as though it pained him greatly. But still, it was his brother.

"He'll apologize, I'll make him behave himself." He muttered, as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other anxiously.

"You really want him sleeping in the same cellblock as Carol? As Beth?" The mention of her name made his heart leap, but he couldn't get distracted over this.

"He not a rapist." There was certainty in his voice. His brother might be crass and a pig, but he would never touch a woman if they didn't want him to.

"But his buddy is." The way Maggie tensed beside them at Glenn's voice made him want to go back and carve the Governor's other eye out with one of his arrows. But that would need to be left for another time, there were more important things first.

"They're not buddies no more, not after last night." Daryl tried to keep his tone neutral, but he started feeling as desperation bled into his voice. He couldn't leave his brother, he just couldn't.

"There's no way Merle is going to live there without putting everyone at each other's throats." Daryl felt his eyes burning as he heard Rick's words. His hands started shaking, which he tried to control. He knew what his decision would have to be, he knew what had to be done. But there he was again, being forced into doing something he had always hated doing. He was going to have to choose between his family, and the things he wanted more than life.

"So you want to cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai with you?" In his heart, he knew his words would not change anything. He had always known deep inside. But he had thought, he had hoped that for once, someone would have put him first, put what he _needed_ first.

"She's not coming back." Daryl felt like laughing as he heard Rick speak first, and then Maggie interrupted him saying she couldn't be alone. But what about him? What about what he wanted?

He looked at Michonne as Rick, Maggie and Glenn continued to talk about her. She was lost, like so many of them were before. But if she was brought back, he had to try to get them to accept his brother, they just had to try. "We don't know who she is, but Merle," he saw the three of them look back at him, "Merle's blood."

"No," Glenn took a step closer to Daryl, making the archer who had been looking at Rick stare back at him, "Merle is _your_ blood. My blood? My family? It's standing right here, and waiting for us back at the prison."

Glenn words felt like a knife to his heart. He knew the young man felt deeply for all of them, just like they all felt for each other. To Daryl he had become not just a friend, but a somewhat younger brother. But at the end of the day, Merle was Merle.

"And you're part of that family. And he's not." Once again, Daryl felt like yelling at them. If he was family, why couldn't they understand? Why couldn't they just stop and think and try to work things over with _his_ family? If he meant that much to them, if he was a part of Rick's family as he was saying, why were they making him choose?

Daryl chuckled humorlessly, shaking his head while muttering _you don't know,_ under his breath. He knew they didn't understand, and they probably never would. If Carol had been there, he just knew she would have vouched for him, he would have at least had someone in his corner. But she wasn't, and the three in front of him? They would not change their minds. "Fine," he sneered as he looked behind Rick to see his brother groaning as he finally stood up, leaning against a tree. "We'll look out after ourselves." The fuck they would.

"That's not what I was saying," Glenn pleaded with him, apparently the only one somewhat understanding the situation.

"No him, no me." It was as simple as that. No one could make it out there on their own, and as much of a dickhead Merle was, he was still his brother.

"Daryl, you don't have to do that."

"It's always been Merle and I before this." Couldn't they see? That his heart was breaking? Why couldn't they just understand.

"But it's not like that anymore!" Glenn and Maggie continued to be the ones trying to get him to stay. Rick just stood looking at him, silent. "You have Murphy and Connor, now."

"They're not spare parts you can just interchange," the comment about the twins had made him finally raise his voice. "It's not one brother instead of the other, and who the fuck cares what those two mother fuckers are to me? No Merle, no me."

Glenn seemed to be taken back at his outburst. "Well, what do you want us to tell Carol?"

"She'll understand." To be honest, he hoped she would. He didn't know what his feelings were for the silver haired woman, but out of everyone back at the prison- and that included the twins - she was the one person his heart ached for.

His words were met by silence. Daryl dared to look Rick in the eyes, waiting to see if he would change his mind. After a few seconds, he just knew he had sealed his fate. "Say goodbye to your pops for me," he said to Maggie as he pushed his way between the young couple and started making his way towards the small beat up car.

He could hear both Glenn and Maggie continue to call out for him as he made his way to the trunk of the car. Their steps disappeared after a couple of feet; only Rick's continued. "Hey," the former deputy knew better than to try and stop him physically, "there's got to be another way."

"Just say the words, but don't you dare ask me to leave him again." His words were laced with anguish and the former policeman was left speechless. He took a deep breath as he continued to make his way to the car, while trying to make sense of what he had just done.

"We started something last night," Rick had continued to follow him, his voice barely above a whisper. He stopped behind him as he opened the trunk, taking out his backpack along with his quiver and a couple of water bottles.

"No him, no me." There was more anger in his words now than when he had spoken them to Glenn and Maggie. He just knew if Rick said so, they would have had to take him back. But the truth was, Rick didn't want to. Just like Rick had been the one to leave him on that roof in Atlanta in the first place.

"Take care of yourself, of little asskicker," Daryl shouldered his bag as he started moving towards the woods where Merle was waiting for him. "Of Carl," he stopped, looking back at Rick, giving him one last chance to change his mind, "that's one tough kid." And with those parting words, Daryl left behind the only family in the real sense of the word he had ever had. He felt his skin crawl as Merle threw an arm over his shoulders, looking back mockingly to the people he was leaving behind as if he had won something. Daryl just continued to walk away silently.

.-.-.

Carol had refused to go in for breakfast, instead she had materialized three protein bars from somewhere within the tower with a mysterious smile. Murphy had updated them about the new people, and the three of them had stayed up there waiting for any signs of the rest of their group until Carl had walked into the yard.

They saw as the boy made his way slowly towards where the three graves were dug out two days before stood. With a soft touch to their shoulders, Carol had left them to catch up with the motherless boy.

The brothers tried not to pry, but the scene at the other side of the yard was heartbreaking. A motherless child and a childless mother trying to console each other in their mourning. "That will be good for him," Murphy muttered to his brother as he saw Carl hug Carol, burrowing his head in her chest as the two of them cried over the graves. "He offered them to be the one to put that woman down; we need to look after him."

Connor bit his lip, as he moved his sight from the two small figures to the empty road. "He needs his father."

"His father is an asshole."

"Not saying he isn't, but it's still his father."

"Whatever."

"Are you going to cry now? Does icky little Malachy want to be the lad's daddy?"

"Shut up, asshole." Murphy answered Connor's teasing with a punch to his side, and sooner than either expected they were exchanging blows on the concrete floor trying not to laugh too much at each other.

"What on earth are you two doing?!" Carol's voice interrupted their little fight as both her and Carl looked at them from the yard, laughing as Connor tried to pin Murphy down.

"Nothing, love," Connor was the one who answered, a smile on his face as Murphy was otherwise busy trying to pry his arms from his neck.

"Just don't fall down from there, please." Even as far up as they were, as her and Carl continued their way towards the main gate, the men could hear there was definitely humor behind her words.

They continued roughhousing for a few minutes, stopping when both of them were out of breath. Watching as Carol and Carl waited for the search party, ready to open the gate at the first signal of them coming home.

"They should have been back by now," neither brother wanted to admit it, but it was the truth. It was close to twenty-four hours since they'd left. With a look towards the heavens, the brothers started to pray for their brother to come back to them safe.

Their prayers were interrupted by the sound of the cellblock's metal door slamming shut behind someone, followed by unknown voices squabbling in the inner yard. They weren't that close, but the sound of voices travelled incredibly well when there was nothing else.

"Golden opportunity ..."

Connor had motioned to Murphy to wait where he was as he moved around the watchtower so he was overseeing the inner yard. Watching as the four newcomers, with the body of their deceased in between, talked with each other.

"Just a little kid and a woman," the man, whose back was to him, pointed towards where Carol and Carl were chatting at the gates.

"We can get hold of those weapons," the younger man said, and Connor raised his rifle. The black man, who Murphy had said his name was Tyreese, said something too low for Connor to hear, but he clearly looked surprised at the other two's words.

"We do it quick, they never know what hit them." He was in Connor's line of sight now, the rifle in his hands wasn't the most modern but it was one he knew how to use well. It would be a clean shot.

"We're here to bury Donna."

"They are good people."

"Look at this place," the bearded man continued, as the two siblings stood there in disbelief. "It would be easy." He had barely finished his words, when a shot rang out. Tyreese and Sasha dropped down to the ground in reflex as the man who'd been talking dropped, moaning in pain.

"Not _that_ easy, motherfucker," Connor yelled from the top of the tower, waving at Axel and Beth when the two of them appeared through the door not a moment later.

"Shit!" Tyreese said as he moved to see where his friend had been hit, breathing easy once again when he noticed he had barely been scratched. Their eyes turned to the tower, seeing for the first time that they hadn't been as alone as they'd thought.

"Morning," Connor said, his Irish accent clear as day. "Nice day to bite the hand that fed you, isn't it?"

"Are you fucking insane?!" The youngest man cried up to them, yelping when Connor shot at ground by his feet.

"Language, there's a lady in your presence." Murphy yelled as he pointed to where Beth and Axel were making their way towards them with a shovel. Beth smiled when Connor waved at her, laughing when the same hand turned into giving Axel the finger as the mustached man stared up at him.

"It's just a flesh wound," Connor called back, laughing as he dismissed the assholes as Beth and Axel went to talk to them; moving to follow Murphy who had started to go down the stairs and out of the tower.

"Reckon we scared them?"

"We? I did all the bloody shooting!" The brother's laughter could be heard as they exited the tower, smiling even more as they saw the shot man tense as they made their way past them back towards their cell block.

"Carol said she's staying with the lad, and that we need to get some rest."

"And she doesn't? I'm telling on her to Daryl as soon as he's back."

"And that, my dear brother," Murphy said as he threw an arm around Connor's shoulders. Winking at Hershel as they passed where he was sitting with Judith in his arms as they made their way to the part of the prison they had set up for washing, "is why I'm going to be her favorite forever, I don't tattletale."

.-.-.-

The first two hours had been spent in complete silence as they'd moved quietly through the woods. The fact that he had had that much peace and quiet was both a blessing and a curse for Daryl as he continued to ignore his brother's presence behind him.

"Are you going to continue being a pussy, baby brother?" It was close to the three-hour mark when Merle finally opened his mouth to antagonize him; he immediately wanted to sock him in the jaw once again and knock him unconscious to shut him up.

"Shut up," Daryl muttered from between his clenched teeth as he pushed away more foliage while he continued forward.

"Are you really that much of a woman, that you're about to cry because you had to leave those assholes behind?" Daryl stayed silent as he shouldered his crossbow and continued on; trying as much as he could to block Merle's presence from his mind.

He was sure Merle hadn't noticed, but he was slowly and surely changing their path towards where he knew the prison was. He needed to get back there, where there was trouble brewing and he, for once, was not willing to roll over and play dead at some motherfucker's orders. Them being from Merle or from Rick.

"What was there for you anyway?" Merle hadn't gotten the memo, and as usual, had continued to run his mouth. "The same assholes that left me there, I can't believe you're still with them."

"You left me alone," Daryl's answer was under his breath, where he knew Merle would never hear it. This was the same thing Merle had always done, blame others for his own problems; and leave him behind without thinking twice about him.

"Boy!" Daryl was sure his mouth would hurt, not that it didn't, from how much he was clenching his jaw as he heard Merle's condescending tone call out to him. "We're stopping here; I need my beauty sleep."

He didn't wait for Merle to get to his side when he had already dropped his backpack, and after a quick check, had sat down resting his back against a tree. Still without actually saying anything to his brother, he opened his bag pushing his shit around to try and either find something to eat or to keep his brother from trying to make him talk. He wasn't sure he wouldn't try and knock out his brother yet again if he did.

Daryl heard as Merle sat down opposite him and he ignored him, continuing to pretend look for something in his bag. His brother must have been more tired that he had thought, because in the most Merle-ish fashion, he was snoring loudly less than a minute after sitting down.

His chest finally felt like he could breathe again, as he dared to raise his head from his bag to see if his brother was actually asleep. As he saw the steady rise and fall of his chest and the way the corner of his mouth went slack, some of the tension coiled inside retreated. It was then he noticed a crinkling sound coming from one of the pouches on the outside of his bag. Daryl frowned as he slowly opened it, not remembering having actually put anything in it before. The chuckle which escaped his lips was less humorous and more pain filled as he pulled out one of the four leftover cookies he knew were Carol's favorites, and he was sure he had given the pack to Murphy for her to eat; and ate it. He was going back to them, to her, of that he was sure.

.-.-.-

Smecker used to make fun of them once, calling them 'Angels'. That had been before the public had given them the alias of 'saints'; but it hadn't been true. In a way, yes, they were good men; they helped the people around them, like any truly good catholic would do. But they were no Angels.

So the annoyed look Carol gave them from where she was standing guard with Carl, as they saw the two of them walking down the yard less than an hour after she had basically sent them off to bed, only made them grin at her.

Whatever it was she'd been about to say to them was cut off as the sound of a car was heard, and they jogged down the path until they were standing by the inner gate waiting until Carl opened the barrier for the small Hyundai to pass. They quickly made their way towards the back of the car; and that was when they saw Daryl wasn't in the passenger seat.

Murphy's eyes met Carol's as the car drove away, the look of loss and pain in her eyes was no doubt reflected in theirs. "Where's Daryl?" it was her who called Rick's attention from where he was kneeling in front of Carl, having just finished greeting his son.

As if it was second nature, the twins were already flanking a distraught looking Carol by the time Rick made his way over to her. Connor's hand was on her shoulder, while Murphy although not touching her, was standing as close as he could on her other side.

"He's fine." If Rick was taken back by the presence of the two men, he had a good poker face. "He's alive."

"But where is he?" Connor could feel Carol trembling under his hand, and he knew Murphy was close to losing his head.

"We ran into his brother." Rick moved his eyes from Carol, to look at the twins quickly, before going back to the woman standing between them. "They went off."

Silence greeted those words, not even the usual hot headed Murphy had been expecting something like that. "They left?" Carol's voice was quiet, unwavering yet broken.

Connor glared as he saw Rick shift his gaze from Carol's pain filled eyes. There was something he wasn't saying, and that was just not going to fly with him. He didn't know Daryl, they had barely started to scratch the surface of who and what they were to each other. But he knew good people, and Daryl was a good one; and there, between him and his brother, was one of the people that man loved the most in the world. There was something missing in that picture.

Rick nodded, swallowing as he averted his eyes from the woman in front of them. "Daryl left?"

"What are you not saying?" Connor let his hand drop from Carol's shoulder as he felt Murphy pull her closer to him with an arm around her back.

"What?" Rick answered shaking his head as he finally looked up and into Connor's eyes; his voice showing his disbelief at his mistrust.

"Daryl wouldn't leave just because his brother is back." Being honest, he was not sure of that actually being the case, but by Carol's shocked response to the facts, he was willing to bet on there being more to the story than they were being told.

"What would you know?" Rick huffed in response, glaring at the older man as he started to turn on his heel to go back into the prison. Carl gave the three of them a lost look as his father put a hand over his shoulders and started walking him back to the cell block and away from them.

"Daryl's gone," Carol whispered softly as Connor finally turned to look at her once he stopped glaring at Rick's back. "He's not coming back." Murphy shook his head at him as he brought Carol closer to his chest, letting her grab the sides of his shirt in her fists as if she could physically keep him, and in turn Daryl, with them.

"Hey," Connor said softly as he moved to their side, trying to catch her eyes. "If there's something I've learned about that man," he tried to give her a smile, which didn't seem to do anything to calm the storm of feelings she seemed to have inside. "Is that he never does anything without a reason, I'm sure he had a pretty good one for this."

"He's still gone."

"I know, love." This time it was Murphy who muttered, moving to burrow his face in her silver hair as he dropped a kiss absentmindedly on the top of her head.

"I think there's more to it than he let on," Connor said as he started ushering the two of them back towards the prison. The walk was slow and silent as they moved towards their destination. Connor finally dropped the subject at the look Murphy gave him when they both heard Carol sniff for the tenth time. She was trying as hard as she could to keep the tears at bay, and they would definitely respect that.

As they stepped into the inner yard her first tears started to fall. Murphy moved to hug her back into him, but she resisted. "Love," Murphy muttered as he tried to catch her eyes, but it seemed to have the opposite effect of what he was trying to do.

As her eyes connected with Murphy, her walls seemed to break down and tears started to flow down her cheeks. She slapped a hand over her mouth as if to try and silence her sobs, as she pushed Murphy further away, bending in half when her sobs brought her almost to her knees.

"Carol," Murphy tried once again, stopping in his tracks as she put out a hand to keep him away as another sob racked her small frame, while she kept her eyes tightly shut. The scared look Murphy shot his brother wasn't exactly new, but it did make his brother react.

"Carol," both brothers breathed out as Carol allowed Connor to touch her and help her move so she could sit down with her back against the fence; keeping her from falling down. "You need to breathe, love." Her tears were coming fast, and her breathing was labored.

"I can't," she said between sobs, as she moved to grab one of Connor's hands in hers, while the other she put over her chest; as if to keep her heart from jumping out.

"You can," Murphy's voice seemed to make her cry even more, and his brother glared at him over his shoulder from where he was now kneeling in front of the crying woman.

"Hey," Connor blocked Carol's view of Murphy completely, putting himself right in front of her until he was basically kneeling between her legs. "Look at me," her eyes slowly but surely made their way to his and he didn't back down from the dare he saw behind them.

"He's going to come back." She had started to shut her eyes once again and shake her head, but he moved his hands until they were on either side of her face, not letting her pull away. "Yes, he is." He could feel Murphy behind him, always well attuned to where his better half was. "And we'll give you first dibs on his ass, even if that leaves us with almost nothing to chew on."

Those words made her chuckle, even if she was still in terrible pain. He smiled softly at her, before pulling her into his arms. Allowing her to hide in him for a moment. Without saying anything, she extended one of her hands up towards Murphy, who moved until he was standing with his legs right against Connor's back; and took it. Connor had an idea of why she was hiding, why she couldn't let Murphy - who of the two of them was definitely the one more affectionate to her - hold her. But he knew, in his gut; that this wasn't the last of Daryl Dixon they would get to see.

-.-.-.-.

Daryl looked over his shoulder at his dick of a brother as he continued to follow him, talking his ear off about all the shit he had been up to while at Woodbury. Every other sentence was shade thrown to his new family, and he couldn't help but sigh and shake his head at every single one of them.

"I know you're not interested in pussy, you queer." This was definitely something Daryl had heard more than once in his life. "But damn, that samurai seemed like would have been an animal in the sack; wouldn't have minded bumping uglies with her."

"She would have ended up going all black widow on your ass," Daryl muttered as he kicked a branch away, looking more like a moody teenager than a middle-aged man, "if we were only so lucky."

"Are you ever going to stop being such a moody bastard?" Daryl grinded his teeth as his brother finally asked him a direct question. The few hours since they had departed his friends had been spent more or less like this, Daryl avoiding Merle as he walked them back to the prison, trying not to be too obvious at what he was doing.

The word he used this time made him stop. _Bastard_. It was not the first time Merle called him that, but it was the first time he actually stopped and thought about the meaning behind it. "Is that what I am?" he asked as he turned to look at Merle. His older brother looked worse for wear, tired, with his shirt muddy and marked with sweat stains.

"A moody bastard? Hell yes!"

"A bastard," the word barely passed between Daryl's lips from how hard he grinded his teeth.

"What are you talking about, little brother?" Daryl knew Merle, and he knew him well enough to know when he was lying. And his brother was lying. Merle glared at him as he came upon him and threw an arm around his shoulders, jostling him and dragging him away from the route he was planning on taking them on. Merle knew something, and he was sure he was going to find out exactly what that was.

.-.-.-

Murphy quickly found a reason to hate Daryl Dixon a little. It wasn't because he left them behind, nor for making Carol cry - although that was almost a reason to. No, it was over the fact that since the fucker and him shared the same face, his friend couldn't look at him without wanting to start crying all over again.

Connor had thrown an arm around his shoulders as they both watched Carol walk slowly, feeling like her world had been shaken from its axis, towards the cell block. She had asked them to give her some space, and she had not even looked at Murphy as she had done so.

"He'll be back, soon," Murphy nodded, sighing and dropping his head a little as his brother moved them to sit in the empty inner yard. "She's just hurt, you know it's not you."

"Still makes me feel like shit though." He sighed and looked up to the darkening sky. It was getting later, and night would fall upon them soon. "I hate all this."

Connor just agreed with him, letting silence linger between the two brothers. Their lives had gone crazy in just a couple of days, and moments like these seemed somehow rare.

"Did you ever…" Connor started saying, stopping midway as he tried to properly structure his thoughts.

"Got any idea of there being another one of us?" Murphy finished for him.

"Yeah." They had practically been one since birth, and they pretty much knew the way the other one thought by then.

"We always knew we weren't Mum's."

Connor nodded at Murphy's words. That was true. They were smart lads, and things just didn't make any sense sometimes in the MacManus family tree. Their mother, bless her soul, had done her best, Catholic upbringing possibly was what made her hide the fact that while they were Noah's boys, they weren't hers. They had started to suspect when they were around twelve and all because of one simple school test. Their blood type was AB+, while their mother was O and she had told them their dad was type B.

"Do you think dad knew about him?" Murphy had started to do the thing with his hand where he scratched the side of his neck and Connor slapped his hand away. There was no way they would ever have an answer for that, their father dead and buried years ago by then.

"Declan," Connor turned to look at Murphy as his brother muttered a name.

"What?"

"Do you remember?" Murphy took a deep breath, biting his lip as he looked up as if trying to keep the tears that were filling his eyes from falling. "When we were at that greenhouse, Da started to say nonsense."

Connor swallowed the bitter taste he had in the back of his throat. That was definitely a moment forever ingrained into his mind.

"He kept calling for us, softly," Murphy sniffed as he looked down at his hands, tracing the tattoo over his pointer softly. "I didn't think much about it, because he kept calling for us. But he called out for Declan too."

"But his name is Daryl."

"Just like your name is Connor, but Da called you Cronan."

"Shut up, Malachy." The middle names had always been a sore spot. The need for middle names came from their family's strong catholicism and the need to have a 'saints' name. That was how they ended up with Cronan and Malachy; and maybe with a Declan too.

.-.-.-.-

Night fell, and Daryl just wanted to go home. He had forgotten how tiring Merle was. Just how his brother was able to make him feel caged, even if they were out in the middle of the woods.

"You do understand boy, that your officer friendly is never going to let me into that prison?" Merle asked as he decided they were camping for the night, dropping himself by a tree as he watched Daryl drop the backpack he had carried all day. Daryl ignored him, as he had done most of the day as he tried to find things to start a small fire so they could cook the squirrels he had caught as they made their way through the wilderness.

"You will have to talk to me eventually, boy."

"Not today, at least."

"Why are you so eager, anyway?" Daryl continued with his task, scoffing as his brother threw a stone closer to him so he could use it to light the fire. "Did you finally find some pussy you can't get enough of?"

"I had forgotten how fucking annoying you are." Merle laughed at Daryl's words. He knew what he was doing, he knew he was making his brother mad, but he needed it. He needed Daryl to say more than two words to him, even if they were in anger.

"Because if you did, and you promise to share, I'll get us there first light tomorrow."

"Shut the fuck up!" What Merle definitely didn't expect was the stone that slammed into his forehead.

"Baby brother finally got some pussy!" Merle laughed as he rubbed the spot where the stone had hit him, still cackling while he saw the tips of Daryl's ears redden as he tried to ignore the older man. There was something different with his brother, and he was at a loss as to what it was exactly. But he sure seemed in a rush to get back to the prison, and if what he had seen that morning was any indication, it wasn't over the chinaman, the girl or Rick asshole Grimes.

-.-.-.-

Carol couldn't look at Murphy. It wasn't that she didn't want to, or that she was mad at the man whoshared a face with him; because as she had told Beth she understood the reason why he had done it once she had more time to process it. But the pain ripping her heart in two every time she looked at Murphy? There wasn't anything she could do to convince her heart that it would be alright.

She felt terrible over it, the last thing she wanted was to alienate one of the few people she was truly close to. She just needed time. Everything was too recent; she just needed time. And Connor's sad eyes told her they understood.

Rick paced in front of them as he finally took the plunge and approached their newest arrivals. Carol knew him, one of the few people together with Glenn that had practically known him since the beginning. She tried to avoid thinking about the other person that had been with them since Atlanta, but in the end all of her thoughts returned to him.

Rick approached the new group like he seemed to be approaching everything since Lori died: not completely there. He looked shifty, and slightly frightening, especially when he turned and raised his voice at Carl for having brought them in.

"Hold there, mate," Murphy said, raising his hands as the Georgian man took a step challengingly at him and stood in front of Carl, "it was my idea, I was there with him at all times." That seemed to calm Rick slightly, although not completely.

Murphy and Connor shared a look, as one man moved the young boy further behind him; the other moved closer to Carol as if to be ready in case anything happened.

Hershel took Rick to the side, as he pleaded for their 'leader' to rethink their situation, pleading with him to allow the three men and the woman sanctuary with them.

"We've been through this, with Tomas and Andrew, you know what happened!" Rick's voice resonated through the cell block. Axel tried to make himself smaller as he plastered himself against the wall, making Connor roll his eyes as he looked at him over his shoulder.

"But we got Axel, Oscar, Connor and Murphy; they aren't like them."

"And look where that left us!"

Carol's hand on his forearm was the only thing keeping Connor from speaking out. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes were on the danger: her eyes were on Rick as he continued to argue with Hershel.

"You need to start giving people a chance," Connor heard Carol take a deep breath as it seemed like the argument was coming to an end, Rick looking like he had lost and was going to give into Hershel's pleas.

Rick started to make his way towards Tyreese and Sasha, when suddenly he looked up at the last minute. "No," he muttered. Everyone around him frowned, looking on as the former officer started to look towards the catwalk around the cell block. "No, no, no."

"What the fuck," Connor muttered, moving in front of Carol just as Murphy did the same to Carl; at the same time, Rick pulled out his gun and started pointing around.

"Why are you here?" Rick yelled at nothing, turning around in circles. "What do you want from me?"

"Dad," Carl tried to push Murphy away and approach his father, but the Irishman wouldn't allow it. "What's wrong?"

"Out!" Rick continued to move erratically, pointing his gun at the new group briefly only to point it back at the catwalk and start all over as he continued to mutter to himself.

"Move, move!" Glenn yelled at the four newcomers, pushing them towards the door as Maggie tried to calm Rick down enough to get him to give her the gun.

"What do you want from me?!"


End file.
